The Volunteers - The Volunteers (1967)

A&B Records proudly presents you a masterpiece of psychedelic rock that was lost in time - until now!
After they disbanded in early 1968, a band from Manchester called "The Volunteers" vanished without a trace. What they left behind is their only album released a year before, that was deemed too controversial not just due to its ironic lyrics, but mainly because of its provocative cover with the band standing in front of a burning flag of United Kingdom! There was also a single released in the U.K. and Germany, which is where from comes the only known mention in press of its existence - a two-word review from August of 67' in "Das Pop" magazine, where the anonymous writer is describing the song as "Grosse schei*e". The song in question is a brilliant "Guardian Oath" with unfortunate lyrics that are glorifying the Queen and death in the name of the country. Out of the context, those verses sound extraordinarily inappropriate, especially at those times. The edited single version of the song is presented here as a bonus track, as well as its non-album B-Side "Solitary Feather" that tells the story of a chicken that was killed by the napalm raid. Both songs are presented in mono.
The other highlights include early rock mini-opera "Nameless Travels", catchy "Patriot's Pride", "Chase The Lost Dream" (about a jockey literally beating a dead horse) or a haunting ballad "Rainclouds Over Saigon". The finale of the original album rightfully belongs to "Knights Of Change", a song that is seemingly celebrating the government until it changes into a collage of psychedelic sound effects culminating with loud shooting. After a few seconds of silence fades in the very last track, a soul-breaking and painfully short instrumental "Melancholy Sighs", which clearly evokes the last thoughts of a protagonist that was shot at the end of a previous song. Such a fitting end to this lost classic...

00:00-01:37 Hazy Fields Of War
01:37-04:22 Joy In The Grind
04:22-06:32 Nameless Travels
06:32-09:49 A Glimpse Of Freedom
09:49-13:05 Guardian Oath
13:05-15:49 Leaders Of The Free
15:49-17:58 Anthem, Reimagined
17:58-20:11 Patriot's Pride
20:11-21:49 Sorrow's Sitar
21:49-24:32 Swoon For The Piggie
24:32-27:48 Chase The Lost Dream
27:48-31:05 Rainclouds Over Saigon
31:05-37:15 Knights Of Change
37:15-39:25 Melancholy Sighs
39:25-42:10 Guardian Oath (Single Edit, Mono)
42:10-44:20 Solitary Feather (Single B-Side, Mono)