It’s not that we are going to get a subscription to Classic Rock magazine or anything, but we have always had a soft spot of late 60’s/early 70s British rock…………the period when the 60s Psych bands got HEAVY!!! Although we were not old enough to be on the scene at the time, we got turned on to this music by getting to hear albums from older brother’s record collections or picking them up ourselves for a couple of quid from second hand vinyl stores and it made a big dent on our impressionable, young teenage minds. Californian space cadets Glitter Wizard are very much influenced by the same era and for their new album, Hollow Earth Tour, they channel the early 70s sounds of Hawkwind, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, UFO’s early Space Rock albums and classic Black Sabbath in a blizzard of Hard Rock, Glam, Prog and Space Rock. With a knowing wink and tongue slightly in cheek, but not far enough to go all Spinal Tap on our asses, Wendy Stonehenge, Doug Graves, Lorfin Terrafor, Kandi Moon and Fancy Cymballs (nearly the best name ever for a Glam Rock drummer…………..Sparks drummer Dinky Diamond takes the prize) have fun with the genre with a album chock full of classic rock riffage and songs about reptilian overlords, underwater fascists, and inner-earth explorers, a record that can only be best described as leaving “lipstick stains on the rim of a bong”.
Glitter Wizard expertly recreate the sounds of the early 70s, with ‘The Hunter’ having the urgent groove of Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’ and elsewhere, Hawkwind is referenced on the hazy, psychedelic ‘Fungal Visions’. If you are a fan of the era that Glitter Wizard are paying homage to/ripping off and you are not a massive music snob, Hollow Earth Tour is good fun. There are some great tunes here……………..’Smokey God’ has a great Deep Purple/ Uriah Heep feel with guitarist Lorfin Terrafor bustin’ out his best Richie Blackmore/Mick Box licks and ‘UFOLSD’ is a proper classic rock headbangin’ tune. Like all the best early Sabbath albums, there is a gentle acoustic interlude before returning to the riff heavy tracks……….’Sightseeing With Admiral Byrd’ is a stoned, psychedelic instrumental which mellows out the scene before the band launch into the epic, gloriously OTT Prog Rock album closer ‘Death Of Atlantis’. A monster of a live band, Glitter Wizard can’t be taken 100% seriously when they name check alien conspiracy theorist nutjob David Icke on the cover, however Hollow Earth Tour is a fantastic heavy Psychedelic Rock album from the realm of demons and wizards that really should have a Roger Dean designed cover. Purists may sneer, but we love this record……………….it’s our guilty pleasure of 2016.
Hollow Earth Tour by Glitter Wizard is out NOW on the Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds Records (who describe the band as “Pink Metal”??????) and is available from their webstore on limited edition red vinyl and less limited edition black vinyl, CD and download (on Bandcamp here...........
The black vinyl version and download is also available from the Glitter Wizard Bandcamp page here https://glitterwizard.bandcamp.com/album/hollow-earth-tour.
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