Ice - 2005 - Ice Man

Ice

2005

Ice Man

01. Ice Man
02. Whisper Her Name
03. Anniversary (Of Love)
04. So Many Times
05. Walk On The Water
06. Time’s Fading Fast
07. Day Tripper
08. Ice Man
09. Wide Blue Yonder Boy
10. Open The Door To Your Heart
11. Like A Woman
12. Skyline
13.Wait
14. Monday
15. Tell Me
16. Silver Lady
17. Burning, Burning
18. Two Hearts
19. Little Girl In Wonderland

Backing Vocals – Linda Hoyle (tracks: 7 to 10)
Bass Guitar – Mo Foster (tracks: 7 to 10)
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – John Carter
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Kris Johnson (tracks: 11 to 16)
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Steve Turner
Organ [Hammond], Piano – Lynton Naiff
Vocals – Glyn James

This CD compilation represents the total recorded output of the cult 60s rock group ICE.
Tracks 7 to 19 are labelled as bonus tracks, despite the absence of a release that omits them.

In 1967 and 1968, Ice were a much–touted but slightly mysterious recording band, constantly on the radio (including the famous John Peel show with Jimi Hendrix and Traffic), but seldom seen on television and never live.

‘Walk On the Water’ was the controversial track (disguised as ‘Walk Under Water’ for Radio One purposes) that was intended to be their second single and was eventually sidelined in favour of ‘Ice Man’.

RECORD COLLECTOR lists their two singles ‘Anniversary (Of Love)’ from 1967 and ‘Ice Man’ from 1968 in their Rare Record Guide and apart from the singles and their ‘b’ sides all of the tracks featured on this CD have never before been released.

Lynton Naiff, Grant Serpell, Mo Foster and Linda Hoyle all later joined up as AFFINITY but that as they say is another story

This CD represents the group’s entire recorded output of the cult 60’s rock group ICE.

I was pleasantly surprised to see such an extensive offering of tunes from the band which recorded the oft-comped "Ice Man," available here in both studio and live form. The "blued eyed soul" approach, to me, always produced the best stylings of the beat/freakbeat/mod era. This approach is evident in several places here, for example, their cover of Darrell Banks "Open the Door to Your Heart" (incorrectly classified by the BBC announcer as "an original."). But, how can 13 of 19 tracks on any full-length CD be BONUS tracks? Most of these songs are one-off live recordings or demos, and the quality of what is laid down here is much too good for these songs not to have had full studio treatment. 

This 19 song disc leads with those four songs, including the title track; sprinkled with swirling organ bursts, clever guitar figures, and choir-inspired vocal harmonies, the style exemplifies the psychedelic pop of the period. The compilation adds an unissued single: The driving R&B number "Walk On Water" contrasts with the Zombies-style ballad "Time's Fading Fast."

The second half of the disc showcases the songwriting collaboration between session guitarist Kris Johnson and lyricist/manager Chris Simpson. Unlike the full-band recordings, these demos find singer Glyn James primarily accompanied by guitar, bass, and backing vocals. This allows James to project a more reflective mood on songs that foreshadow the singer-songwriter era.

Ice Man closes with three Simpson-Johnson compositions performed at Sussex University by Russell's Clump, a group connected to the Ice family tree. Glyn James' liner notes give context to this delightfully obscure bit of British music.