Sea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead

Paul Whitehead

Paul Whitehead is a painter and graphic artist known for his surrealistic album covers for artists on the Charisma Records label in the 1970s, such as Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator.-England: Liberty Records and Charisma Records:...

.

Production

Denny Gerrard (of Warm Sounds

Warm Sounds

Warm Sounds was an English musical duo, consisting of Denver Gerrard and Barry Younghusband. They are considered a one hit wonder for their hit single, "Birds and Bees", from 1967. The group existed from 1967 to 1968.-Charts:...

) produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning. The recording sessions for the two albums overlapped, with Sinister Morning being finished in late June 1969, and Sea Shanties being started on the 2nd of that month.

Reception

Though it met with a scathing review in Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

, reviews in the underground press were universally positive, and sales were just enough to convince Liberty to give the green light to a second album.

The Allmusic review by Wilson Neate awarded the album 4 stars stating "On Sea Shanties, there's nothing fey and flowery in Hill's bleak lyrics or his doomy Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison

James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...

-like delivery, and psychedelia's melodic whimsy is supplanted by a physicality more in line with the visceral heft of metal progenitors...High Tide weren't a power trio, though, and it was the interplay of Hill's guitar with Simon House's violin that created the band's unique signature. Showing that rock violin needn't be a marginal adornment, House whips up an aggressive edge that rivals the guitar... High Tide had the muscularity of a no-nonsense proto-metal band, but they also ventured into prog territory with changing time signatures and tempos, soft-hard dynamics, multi-part arrangements, and even some ornate faux-Baroque interludes... Far from the collection of nautical ditties its name suggests, Sea Shanties is an overlooked gem encapsulating the shifting musical currents in late-'60s British rock. ".

Track listing

All tracks written by Tony Hill except where noted.

1. "Futilist's Lament" – 5:17
2. "Death Warmed Up" – 9:08
3. "Pushed, But Not Forgotten" – 4:43
4. "Walkin Down Their Outlook" – 4:58
5. "Missing Out" – 9:38
6. "Nowhere" (Roger Hadden, Simon House) – 5:54

Bonus Tracks on 2006 Remastered Edition

1. "The Great Universal Protection Racket" – 11:24
2. "Dilemma" – 5:14
3. "Death Warmed Up" (demo) – 7:35
4. "Pushed, But Not Forgotten" (demo) – 4:01
5. "Time Gauges" – 6:24

Personnel

• Roger Hadden - drums
• Tony Hill - guitar, vocals
• Simon House
  Simon House
  Simon House is a composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. His arrival in 1974 introduced a new element to the band's style...
  
  - violin, organ
• Peter Pavli - bass