Pete Brown & Piblokto - 1970 - Thousands On A Raft

Pete Brown & Piblokto

1970

Thousands On A Raft

01. Aeroplane Head Woman 6:39
02. Station Song Platform Two 3:37
03. Highland Song 17:00
04. If They Could Only See Me Now - Parts One And Two 1:23
05. Got A Letter From A Computer 5:46
06. Thousands On A Raft 7:06
Additional Tracks
07. Can't Get Off The Planet 6:02
08. Broken Magic 6:57

Bass, Guitar – Jim Mullen
Bass, Percussion – Steve Glover
Drums, Percussion – Rob Tait
Guitar, Percussion – Jim Mullen
Mellotron, Keyboards, Percussion, Soprano Saxophone – Dave Thompson
Vocals, Talking Drum, Congas – Pete Brown

Thousands on a Raft was their second and final album and while it's a bit weaker than it's predecessor I still find it to be a very good totality. Although the material is very diverse once again the album doesn't feel inconsistent at all. The songwriting is solid and so is the quality of the instrumental work. "If They Could Only See Me Now Parts One and Two" is probably my favourite song here but as I said the whole LP is a strong totality. In case you enjoy Pete Brown's previous work (The Battered Ornaments and/or Piblokto!) you will most likely dig this LP as well.

The opening track of this album, “Aeroplane Head Woman” sounds like the kind of Cream / Traffic blend that Blind Faith was searching for. It would be one of this band’s more commercial tracks if not for its nearly seven minute length, but therein lies the problem. It’s not a repetitive “Hey Jude” kind of seven minutes. It needs the time to tell its story. Pete Brown seems to be searching for a way to make his material more accessible without compromising its artistic vision.

He succeeds on the album’s second track “Station Song, Platform Two”, which is absolutely the most beautiful lyric he’s ever written. This is the kind of mix of poetry and rock that Liverpool Scene was aiming for, but couldn’t quite grasp. Jack Bruce fans, you’re missing something if you don’t know this one.

Bruce fans' jaws will drop as well, at the opening notes of “If They Could Only See Me Now (Parts One and Two)” , as it features the same ringing guitar lines that open West, Bruce & Laing’s “Like A Plate”, before heading in a jazz-rock direction.

Most people who find fault with this album blame the 17-minute instrumental workout “Highland Song”. Of course these are mostly the same people who’ll analyze every note of the 22-minute “Whipping Post”. The virtuosity on display in both tracks is the same. Piblokto! is progressive, rather than blues based, so “Highland Song” sounds more like Tasavillan Presidentti than it does the Allmans, but it holds my attention as well as Duane and Gregg do.

The album closes with Brown’s most evocative lyric in the title track. It seems to begin with a nod to the circumstances of his dismissal from the Battered Ornaments before becoming a metaphor for the general animosity of the entire human condition. A beautiful Jim Mullen guitar solo makes it arguably Piblokto!’s finest hour, and a fitting way to end.

Thousands on a Raft is remembered as much for its cover as anything else -- a picture of a model Titanic and a model Concorde sinking in a puddle, as rafts of toast ferry thousands of baked beans to the shore. Musically it was some good jazz-rock, with the emphasis not always on Brown's vocals and elliptical lyrics, as Jim Mullen's "Highland Song" offered an inventive, lengthy instrumental as the disc's centerpiece. The title cut has a Pink Floyd edge, surprising given Brown's predilection for jazz and blues, but it works well in the context. Guitarist Mullen is co-writer throughout, while the rhythm section of Rob Tait and Steve Glover swing rather than plod. "Station Song Platform Two" employs Mellotron to full prog rock effect, while "Got a Letter from a Computer" seems eerily ahead of its time for the early '70s. This was the last gasp of this incarnation of Piblokto!, but there's no doubt they went out on a high note.