Medicine Head - New Bottles Old Medicine

Medicine Head
New Bottles Old Medicine
(Cherry Red)

8/10

By Decibel Report - Nov 23, 2020

As the title presciently suggests, this 50th Anniversary edition has been repackaged into a newly labelled presentation with an extra disc of non-album singles, BBC recordings and live tracks recorded at The Marquee Club in which the old medicinal formula of songs has been preserved and matured detailing an ultra-fine vintage performance on this milestone release.

Discovered by visionary DJ John Peel and, upon John Lennon’s encouragement, signed to Peel’s Dandelion Records label, the combined alchemical forces of John Fiddler and Peter Hope-Evans turned a rudimentary equipped unit of guitars, jaw harp and kick drum into something magical far above its constituent parts.

The easy versatility of musicianship threading together with the immediately accessible songwriting swiftly launched this duo’s career which went on to incorporate further band members including Keith Relf, no less.

However, this inaugural slice of Medicine Head’s musical history is put into wider context with an extra disc of essential bonus material crucially revealing the raw live tour-de-force generated by this two-man band.

Strap yourself firmly to the mast, as Captain’s Fiddler and Hope-Evans navigate their gale-force approach, with bracing moments of serenity, as this record of re-dressed old ecstasies rocks your boat on a return trip to 1970 when two musicians produced an almighty armada of audio treasures. A most welcome prescription to take the edge off the current pandemic blues half a century on.