REVISIO: John St Field | Control

Albums are a gathering of ideas, a fixed space to explore a particular viewpoint, focus or set up. They are a story or a document of a space and place in time. A 40 minute or so window, to view an artist’s craft. Back when we only had vinyl and tape, it required more effort to skip a track or two than today’s simple tap. It was often easier to let the music play and see what happens…

Within And Without You, and Revolution 9 are two well-known examples that forced a global Beatles audience into new, and perhaps rarely revisited worlds. Brian Eno’s celebrated Discreet Music is hugely important, but how does the far less interesting B side compare? In the age of playlists, cherry picking through entire discographies, often whittled down to a track or two…

Art clearly doesn’t easily gather into consistent bundles. Albums are almost always uneven affairs, and can still be great, as long as the good bits are really good. A collection of ideas can’t all uniformly be amazing. You can’t have light without shade…

For us, Control by John St Field fits this idea of imperfect perfection superbly.

We do feel bad for starting out with negativity, and being hugely selective about what we find so exciting here. But the truth is when Control really hits its stride, it’s one of the most unusual, amazingly produced, twisted, and bizarre treats to come our way in a long time. Imagine a unique sub-genre that combines pop with prog, lysergic spiralling lyrics delivered in a gentle, somewhat elaborate and radio friendly voice. Genuinely, it’s like nothing we have heard before.

Of course, the backstory of the album can’t be overlooked either. Recorded in 1971, in the midst of an intensive exploration of LSD, the artist was in trouble with the police, so the resulting album appeared, at his request, under the alias of John St. Field. The album is in fact the first recording of latter day prolific Scottish folk singer songwriter –  Jackie Leven. 

Possibly due to nervous labels, the completed record was shelved for a few years before briefly being released in Spain in 1975. Later, Leven played around with the track listing and re-issued the album in the late 90’s under his own name. However, Catalonian label Guerssen, somehow the perfect foil within the story, have reissued the album, some 52 years after its creation – in the order it was originally conceived and released.

The singular quantity of the music is apparent instantly, Soft Lowland Tongue is a skewed journey through Scottish Borders history. The song traces events around the Border rievers, a band of raiders active between the 13th and 17th century. But rather than some folky epic, it renders itself as a far more unusual form of progressive rock full of odd hooks, close harmonies and a friendly, almost pop surface that sits at odds with its actual lyrics and content.  

“today there is an evil on the land which all the border reivers could never command” 

The fact the music is so engrossing and mentions several places only a few miles from where OBLADADA is based only pulls us deeper into these brain tickling folds within the music – a strange but very welcome strain of local psychedelia. Our local adventures in the countryside have a new, almost site-specific soundtrack.

Somehow the next track Ruins falls flat but the 3rd track, the near 11 minutes of The Problem presents the next staggering high. Another bizarre tale speared by avant garde droning elements, rumbling explosions, and a menacing rock throb.

“there was a woman knockin’ in the nails tellin’ all the people ‘about a new kind of jail”

At the point, it seems to settle into some sort of jazzy calm, only to then veer off into a stunning elongated flute groove. The effect is clearly one of disorientation, but also a marker of time, of seasons, life, death, and the ebb and flow of centuries…

The next track Dune Voices unexpectedly teleports us back into an early section of The Problem before the floor disappears completely. Backward vocals, more droning smears and howling gales. It’s as bewildering as it is stunning.

Raerona, begins with a slow fade in of a chanting crowd, like the freaks are approaching your house from down the street. When the song reveals itself, it’s another multiheaded monster, squelchy electronics, peeling guitars and biting acerbic lyrics delivered in St Field’s consistently unusual, sweet tones.

“and all our friends are being tortured by blind maggots from the News Of The World”

As expected, exactly what is going on never becomes clear, but it’s a hundred fragmented pieces that tie together into another 6 minutes of jaw dropping oddness.

And that’s it.

I’m Always A Prinlaws Boy, is just a bit lightweight given what came before. Mansion Tension, and Dog Star feel like perfectly understandable attempts at something a bit more commercial. The closer, Sleeping In Bracken is little more than a gentle come down.

It’s clear that Control was the product of a bizarre set of circumstances, drugs, and pressures. That it never saw the light of day at the time, robbed it of the opportunity to waft around in the heavy and moody days of 1971. How would have Control intermingled with endless discussions and overviews around Meddle, Hunky Dory, Maggot Brain, Led Zepplelin IV or countless others? Our guess is it would have made tiny but noticeable waves, by those with the most adventurous ears and brains.

In the time after he made Control, Leven endured years of isolation, staying in lighthouses – living on water and dog biscuits, and clearly struggling with various demons. However, he did reappear with the band Doll By Doll in the late 70’s, and later as a prolific folk artist, and did thankfully enjoy some recognition. Sadly, he passed away in 2001, at the young age of only 61.

Whatever you make of these later phases, nothing seems near to that wild half an album of perfection in Control.

This album is a breath-taking example of an artist that somehow hit their creative peak instantly. A mangled stack of ideas, ability, odd logic and magic. A harsh reality for the artist, but for the audience half a century later, a concise gift like nothing before or since…

Control is a spectacular square peg, in an ongoing sea of round holes. An actually unearthed classic in a sea of copyists. Despite its imperfections, it’s a record we have found irresistible.

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Control is released on 7 December on Guerrsen only on vinyl.
The remastered album is available in black and limited marbled editions.