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:: Spontaneous Combustion - Chessboard ::

Spontaneous Combustion were a British trio who put out a few albums in the early 70's, when they were very young. Brothers Gary (guitar, vocals) and Tristian (bass, vocals) Margetts joined drummer Tony Brock, who later was a Baby and then a drummer for hire, and now runs a studio. Their fairly successful first album was produced by Greg Lake, their second they produced themselves. The a-side to this single is the song "Rainy Day," from that album, which they named Triad. The b-side is a song called "Chessboard" credited to a Chris Redwood, and was produced by Robert Kirby. I have no idea who Chris Redwood is, but Kirby has done a lot of things in British rock, from arranging for Elton John, Vashti Bunyan, Audience, Nick Drake and Nick Lowe, to playing keyboards on a 1978 Crazy World of Arthur Brown album, to blowing some french horn for the Strawbs.



This song is pretty tasty. I wouldn't call it prog, but it's got some of that flavor. The drumming is particularly tight, especially for a Baby. The lyrics don't make much fucking sense, at least the words I can understand. The Margetts pretty much disappeared from sight after Triad came out, though Tristian resurfaced in the early 80's to play with Greg Lake's band. Funny how talented people can fall through the cracks like that, whether they do it on purpose or not.


Tony

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