Homegrown Music (a great name for a production company by the way) was the brainchild of producer Brian Carroll and engineer / multi-instrumentalist Damon Lyon Shaw. Their partnership was formed back in 1968 as they were both working as engineers at IBC Studios in London. Seeking to branch out and produce other acts they quickly went to work in search of new talent by forming Joint Productions which soon became known as Homegrown Music. Their first discovery was an outfit called Factory who managed to put out a handful of acid tinged singles beginning with the psychedelic gem "Path Through The Forest" and it's b-side "Gone", which was originally done by Paul Revere & The Raiders.
In addition to three more Factory tracks which are spread out throughout the disc, there are couple of other bands whose contributions are also featured prominently here, namely Five Day Rain and One Way Ticket. Five Day Rain another rather obscure group featured the talents of vocalist / keyboardist Graham Maitland, and although they only released one full length album (the majority of it is included on this disc) their unique combination of pop and progressive rock definitely deserves a mention. The only drawback and it's a minor one really, is that instead of the original eleven minute album version of "Rough Cut Marmalade", we get an edited version due to time constraints. Nevertheless this six and half minute instrumental jam which closes out the CD in grand fashion features some stellar guitar and keyboard dueling from John Holbrook and Maitland. One Way Ticket on the other hand was a band in name only, but was in fact Carroll and Shaw backed by various different musicians. Their seven tracks, all recorded in the mid 70's, lean more towards harder edged pop as "Don't Ask Why", "It's Too Late" and "Lusty Eyes" come across as a suped up hybrid of The Raspberries and T.Rex. Save for three other throw away numbers (although to be honest I'm quite fond of the reggae track "Caribbean Way" by Lloyd Miller as well) that's pretty much The Best of Homegrown Music in a nutshell.
Angel Air Records, like they've done so often in the past, have done a bang up job putting together this compilation of long lost treasures. Kudos also go out to Brian Carroll for his informative sleeve notes which really help to provide some insight on how these songs originally came together. You may or may not be familiar with the majority of the material on this collection, but if you're a fan of somewhat obscure British classic and progressive rock, then this one is definitely worth checking out.
Track Listing
1) Path Through The Forest – Factory
2) Sea Song – Five Day Rain
3) Don't Ask Why – One Way Ticket
4) Baby I Still Love You- Candy
5) Can't Stop Me Dancing – One Way Ticket
6) Gone - Factory
7)Fall Out – Five Day Rain
8) You Know – One Way Ticket
9) Red Chalk Hill - Factory
10) It's Too Late – One Way Ticket
11) Good Year – Five Year Rain
12) Try A Little Sunshine - Factory
13) Marie's A Woman – Five Day Rain
14) Mr. Lacy - Factory
15) Lusty Eyes – One Way Ticket
16) Don't Be Mislead – Five Day Rain
17) Caribbean Way – Lloyd Miller
18) Too Much of Nothing – Five Day Rain
19) So Many Ways – One Way Ticket
20) Soul In A Box – Jac Pack
21) Take A Ride – One Way Ticket
22) Rough Cut Marmalade – Five Day Rain
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