Progressive Rock
“Thousand Days of Yesterdays”, the Captain Beyond tribute album that the Swedish label Record Heaven released on CD in 1999, returns on 20 November through Cleopatra Records. It comes out on vinyl for the first time, and the CD adds two versions the original didn’t have, by Ministry and by Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook, both of “Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air)”.
The thirteen main tracks follow the running order of Captain Beyond’s 1972 debut, which runs most of its songs together in three unbroken suites. Pentagram open with that same “Dancing Madly Backwards”, The Flower Kings play “Raging River of Fear”, with Roine Stolt on guitar and sharing lead vocals with Hasse Fröberg, and Hawkwind’s Nik Turner guests on “Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)” with Five Fifteen. Brian Robertson, formerly of Thin Lizzy, plays lead guitar on “Mesmerization Eclipse” with Lotus. Most of the rest are from Sweden’s psych and stoner scene, The Quill and Zello among them.
Captain Beyond formed in Los Angeles in 1971 with Rod Evans, Deep Purple’s first singer; former Iron Butterfly guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman; and Bobby Caldwell, who had drummed for Johnny Winter. Released by Capricorn Records, the debut reached number 134 on the Billboard albums chart. Reinhardt and Dorman both died in 2012.
The CD’s other four bonus tracks were already on the 1999 disc: Orchid Leaves, ZoomlenZ, and Qoph and Abramis Brama singing “Dancing Madly Backwards” and “Mesmerization Eclipse” in Swedish.
Text by Guillem Cardós