01	Blankman Cries Again						08:29
	02	The Joke						09:32
	03	Saneonymous						14:29

(p) 1970 Liberty Records
(c) 1994 Repertoire Records

High Tide

Group members: Tony Hill: Lead Guitar and Vocals. Simon House: Violin. Peter Pavli: Bass Guitar. Roger Hadden: Drums.

Only known releases: SEA SHANTIES. 1969. Liberty Records LST-7638. HIGH TIDE. 1970. Liberty LBS 83294. Re-released on Psycho Records. Reissued on CD by Repertoire and Liberty.

The Songs:
"Sea Shanties"
Futilist's Lament
Death Warmed Up
Pushed, But Not Forgotten
Walking Down Their Outlook
Missing Out
Nowhere


"High Tide"
Saneonymous
Blankman Cries Again
The Joke

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This is an English band. Formed in 1969, High Tide were part of the wave of 'progressive underground' bands which sprang up in Britain in the late sixties. Tony Hill has a very strange heavily fuzzed staccato type playing style. Sustain is not his bag. The songs may sound like something from a Black Sabbath record, but they are nowhere near as ominous. The songs have a lot of changes to them so this is a band that combines elements of Black Sabbath and Yes, without sounding like either one.
Simon House puts his violin through fuzz and wah at times. If you listen to this on headphones too loud, you're gonna fry your hair follicles.
An interesting change in the mix is "Nowhere" written by Simon and Roger. All other songs were written by Tony Hill.
Tony Hill had earlier played with The Misunderstood. Simon House later played with Hawkwind and David Bowie. He also played with members of The Third Ear Band on the soundtrack to Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth'. Peter Pavli was later involved with House in several Hawkwind offshoot projects. I don't know if there were any other releases by High Tide back in the 70's, but I have seen recent CD releases under that name with Tony and I think Peter (with a drum machine?). They were imports and very expensive so I did not want to risk it. I have heard from a few readers out there that some of these newest CD's are pretty good, so I'll have to go ahead and check them out. Update: Tony Hill is still alive and well! He's got a new band together called Tony Hill's Fiction. The players: Tony: Guitar, Dean E. Holt: Bass, and Syd Farrell: Drums (Syd's father is Louie Farrell (drums) from 'The Gun'...another band I'll have to put on this site). Thanks to Dean and Syd for their interest and input.


High Tide

Personnel:
TONY HILL gtr, vcls A
SIMON HOUSE violin, organ, piano A
PETER PAVLI bs A
ROGER HADDEN drms A
ALBUMS:
(A) SEA SHANTIES (Liberty LBS 83264) 1969 R1
(A) HIGH TIDE (Liberty LBS 83294) 1970 R1
NB: (1) reissued (Psycho 26) 1984, (2) reissued (Psycho 27) 1984. (1) and (2) reissued on CD (Repertoire REP 4413-WY) and REP 4414-WY respectively) 1994. (1) and (2) also available on one CD (Liberty 7243 8 2971122) 1994. Also relevant are three retrospective CDs:- Interesting Times (Lobster 001) 1990, Precious Cargo (Cobra Records CD 003) 199?, and The Flood (World Wide Records SPM-WWR-CD-0005) 1990.

Formed in 1969, High Tide were part of the wave of 'progressive underground' bands which grew up in Britain in the late sixties. Tony Hill had earlier played with The Misunderstood. Their albums, which were for the most part completely uncommercial, were characterised by elaborate, sometimes over-sophisticated guitar work. The band were more popular on the Continent than in Britain. The strongest tracks on the first album are arguably Walking Down Their Outlook and Pushed, But Not Forgotten, which has a beautiful, mellowed vocal intro. Futilist's Lament was also melodic whereas Missing Out and Nowhere were high energy 'wall of sound' instrumentals with a mesh of violin and guitar. Their second album was of a similar mould and comprised just three tracks; the 14 minute Saneonymous which accounts for the whole of side 2, the 8 minute Blankman Cries Again and The Joke, which lasts for over 9 minutes. All three are extended instrumental compositions with occasional vocal interludes. Despite their undoubted ability as musicians, High Tide's music lacked sufficient interest to attain wide recognition. Walking Down Their Outlook was introduced to a wider audience via the Son Of Gutbucket compilation.

As High Tide's albums had not sold well when originally issued, they had become quite difficult to obtain prior to their reissue.

Simon House later played with Hawkwind and David Bowie. He also played with members of The Third Ear Band on the soundtrack to Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth'. Peter Pavli was later involved with House in several Hawkwind offshoot projects.

Of the recent CDs, the first to appear was Interesting Times, with ten tracks featuring Tony Hill and Simon House and a drum machine. This appeared first as a mail order cassette which was better quality than the later CD. Precious Cargo appears to be rehearsal sessions by original members in 1970, for what would have been the 3rd album including Ice Age, Movie Madness, and Rock Me On Your Wave. The Flood is an eleven track collection of recordings from 1970-76, some with the original line-up, some with Dracham Theaker. Ice Age turns up here also.

There have also been three later CDs. Ancient Gates (World Wide Records SPM-WWR-CD-007) 1990, is a reunion recording with Hill and Pavli teaming up with former Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's Drachen Theaker, violinist Dave Tomlin and vocalist Sushi Krishnamurthi. The first track Resonance is brilliant, but gets worse with every subsequent track and I defy anyone to listen to it all the way through. A Fierce Nature (SPM-WWR-CD-0012), contains seven tracks recorded 1990 by Tony Hill and Dracham Theaker and A Reason Of Success (SPM-WWR-CD-0024) contains another five tracks from 1990. Both are worth a listen.

Tony Hill also recorded a solo CD (on World Wide Records) and Maggie Bell released a single of the "Hazell" theme tune on Swan Song records in 1978.

For more information check the following website: http://www.guitarz.com/bymnhho.html

(Vernon Joynson / John Hobbs)




High Tide - "High Tide" (1970)
I guess most of you would regard this album as a more progressive record than the first one. The album consists of just three long tracks, and all of them are with no doubt progressive rock. The album is less raw sounding, and the group had also began to use some organ and piano to good effect. The vocal parts of both "Blankman Cries Again" and "Saneonymous" is pure heaven, and the violin sounds great as always. It's not so much more to say. This is simply a great album, and progressive purists would probably like to check this one out before "Sea Shanties".