Mark Fry - The Witch (1972) Quality UK Acid Folk Music
Mark Fry - The Witch
June 1972
Dreaming With Alice (reissued in 2006)
Acid Folk classic from 1972
Originally up on the Italian RCA imprint IT Dischi
Dreaming with Alice. Fry was studying art in Italy in 1972, and a friend set him up in a recoding studio in Rome to cut an album with a handful of musician friends whose names Fry has long since forgotten. The original LP never got released outside of Italy, but somehow the album's reputation spread by word of mouth, and for fans of psychedelic folk the album is considered a classic. Bootleg versions popped up all over the place, and copies of the original release have sold for over $2000 at auction. Fry, meanwhile, tried unsuccessfully to get a record deal back home in England, and has spent most of his life between traveling and making a living selling his paintings in France. While he had long stopped pursuing music professionally, he enthusiastically lent his support and participation when Sunbeam Records re-issued Dreaming with Alice in 2006. Thirty-four years after its recording, it was officially released outside of Italy for the very first time.
After listening to Dreaming with Alice, it's not hard to figure out why the album appeals so strongly to a specific group of music listeners. Fry's style on this recording evokes performers like Donovan and Syd Barrett, with all the hippie mysticism and other accessories (legal and otherwise) which that implies. But if you're into psychedelic music, especially with acoustic guitars, then you'll find much to like on Dreaming with Alice. The music is as dreamlike and trance-inducing as the album's title implies, but it is also quite melodic. The title song is unique in that its nine verses are not played together, but with one verse at a time prefacing each of the other tracks. The playing, considering it was done in an inferior studio (the soundproofing was so poor they couldn't use drums), is remarkably solid and tight as well. The highlight for me is a six-minute song called "The Witch," a steady, determined jam that makes as good a use of the sitar in a rock context as any song outside of "Norwegian Wood."
