S.J.C. Powell - Celestial Madness, Australia 1975

 

Discogged here.

Born in Sydney in 1951. He was guitarist and vocalist in Australian band, "The Mint", who released 4 singles between 1969 and 1971 on the 'Ramrod' label. After securing a major recording contract with an Australian recording company, he recorded his first solo LP entitled: 'Celestial Madness', which was released throughout the world in 1974. Soon after this, Powell went totally deaf and was unable to record again. Since then, and the arrival of state of the art digital hearing aids, he has been able to record again. He was also the manager of a theatre for fifteen years and has written two plays and a musical comedy. He has also written a book, 'FAME OR INFAMY: The true story behind the Jack the Ripper diary', tells the story of just how the infamous diary of Jack the Ripper came to be written and how it has affected the literary world.

Note there is a copy of the vinyl for sale for 347 dollars!

Basically guitar folk, with I think 2 or 3 electric tracks.  The usual over-earnest naive singer songwriter folk stuff, but with interesting spacey, scifi lyrics, so common for the times.  Here and there I've posted some LPs in this genre, which tend to be, as we all know, quite similar. to each other.  An exception was the outstanding Aussie Graham Lowndes, who should've been a star back in the day with those beautiful compositions of his. Here's a rym review that overstates the case a little:

S.J.C. Powell started recording singles in Australia in the late 60s and finally landed a full length record deal in 1974. Celestial Madness was the fantastic result, a solid mix of psych pop and cosmic folk that follows a mellow and hazy pace that changes directions and offers a few dramatic peaks. This is optimistic weed smoking music for positive vibes and summer evenings when the first stars start to appear in the sky.

Highlights include the ultra laid back "When You Make the Other Side," the sunshiny "Green Hills of Earth" and the wicked synth on "Say Hello." There's plenty of nice touches like the brief cosmic interlude "supernova" and quality production that still allows the folk core to hit home alongside a variety of instruments....

For ex., Governor Lane:

Note that the instrumentation actually is quite interesting, not the pared-down basic 'acid folk' style of acoustic guitar plus vocals.  And open chord guitar tuning, with its jangly resonance, is used frequently here (think Led Zep's That's the Way it's Gonna Be).

Or consider the Green Fields of Earth:

A few great songs, quite enjoyable though, all in all.