Raw Material

The 1970 debut by this London-based quintet, originally released on the small Evolution label and now a sought-after grail of British proto-prog. One of the earliest documents of progressive rock in the making - raw, unpolished, absolutely essential.

Raw Material emerged from the late-sixties London underground: Colin Catt on keyboards and vocals, Dave Green on guitar, Phil Gunn on bass, Paul Young on drums, and Mick Fletcher on saxophone, flute and harmonica. The group had its roots in R&B jam sessions at Norwood Technical College, evolving through blues and jazz influences into something stranger, more adventurous. By early 1969 they were touring Germany. By July 1970 they played the legendary Aachen Open Air Pop Festival alongside Pink Floyd, Can, Kraftwerk, Amon Düül II and Krokodil. Hold on to your hats.

The album opens with "Time and Illusion" - seven minutes of kaleidoscopic organ, emotive vocals, xylophone passages drifting into proto-prog territory. Comparisons to early King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator are inevitable but not entirely accurate. There's something rawer here, more unstable - the sound of a band caught between psychedelic rock and the progressive explorations yet to come. "Fighting Cock" begins as a mournful Crimson-style lament before erupting into frantic piano and sax blasts. "Traveller Man" is relentless chugging rock driven by dusty harmonica and acid-fried guitar wailing, spiraling into the heavens like swampy German krautrock. The closer, "Destruction of America," is something else entirely - spoken word over Mellotron landscapes, a dark meditation on societal collapse. Pretty grim stuff. Pretty great.

The album appeared on multiple labels across Europe - CBS in Italy, Vogue Schallplatten in Germany (with an alternate cover showing the band in hippie attire in an overgrown meadow), Zel Records in Spain (with colorful psychedelic art in the Peter Max vein). Original UK copies on Evolution are extremely scarce. Engineer Robin Sylvester, just 20 years old, also worked that year on albums by Caravan, East of Eden and the Mike Westbrook Concert Band. Producer Ed Welch would go on to release his own album Clowns in 1971.

Raw Material recorded one more album - Time Is... on RCA Neon in 1971 - before disappearing. Both records have become collector's items, rediscovered by those hunting for the roots of British progressive rock. This is where it started. The real deal.