Gopal, Sam
Escalator
"Sam Gopal took up the tabla in Malaysia at the age of 7, before coming to study music in Britain in 1962. Sam Gopal put
together his first group, Sam Gopal's Dream in 1966. They quickly became a feature of the psychedelic scene, playing at
the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream at Alexandra Palace in 1967 and sharing stages with such giants as Pink Floyd, the Move
and Jimi Hendrix. Indeed, Jimi jammed with them during a gig at the Speakeasy in January 1968. However, whilst
successful live, the band went unrecorded, and disbanded shortly after, only to be reconstituted under the 'Sam Gopal'
moniker, Sam being joined by Roger D'Elia on guitar, Phil Duke on bass and most famously, ex Jimi Hendrix roadie Ian
'Lemmy' Willis on vocals and guitar. Signed to the short-lived Stable label, songs for an album were quickly written,
most of them by Lemmy, and the album was released in March 1969, beautifully packaged in a gatefold sleeve. Something of
a classic of psychedelic acid rock, complete with fuzzed guitars, but rooted by its Eastern percussion, the album
included one cover, a rocked up version of Donovan's 'Season Of The Witch,' whilst a projected single release included a
version of Willie Dixon's 'Back Door Man,' which managed to be even heavier than the interpretation by the Doors on
their first album, released two years earlier. 'You're Alone Now,' one of the Lemmy-written songs on the album, became
quietly influential, acting not only as a forerunner of Hawkwind's seminal 'The Watcher', but having an intro that
brings to mind Black Sabbath's 1970 smash 'Paranoid.' The album ends with undoubtedly the gentlest song of Lemmy's
career, the rather lovely 'Yesterlove,' which has Lemmy's vocal floating gently over a backing of tabla and acoustic
guitar. Sadly, despite apparently having all the ingredients in place for success, this incarnation of 'Sam Gopal'
proved to be no longer-lived than 'Sam Gopal's Dream', and broke up not long after the release of this album."
Price
Genre
Format
LP - 1 disk
Release
10-10-2025
Label
Item-nr
1316970
EAN
5036436157228
Availability
Not in stock
Tracks
Title
Artist
1
COLD EMBRACE
2
THE DARK LORD
3
THE SKY IS BURNING
4
YOU'RE ALONG NOW
5
GRASS
6
IT'S ONLY LOVE
7
HORSE (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
8
ESCALATOR
9
ANGRY FACES
10
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM
11
SEASON OF THE WITCH
12
YESTERLOVE
13
BACK DOOR MAN (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)