| Stackridge by Stackridge | Stand out tracks: Percy the Penguin Dora the Female Explorer 32 West Mall Slark |
Stackridge Lemon were formed by Andy Davis and James “Crun” Walter during 1969 in the Bristol/Bath area of South West England, but after initial experimentation the word Lemon was dropped from the band’s name.
Stackridge played their first London gig at The Temple in Wardour Street in February 1970, and went on to be the opening and closing act at the first Glastonbury Festival later that year. Meanwhile the members of the band shared a communal flat as their headquarters at 32 West Mall in Clifton, Bristol, the address of which Davis and Warren later used as the title of a song, which appeared on the debut album, ‘Stackridge’.
According to the liner notes on the CD release the group claimed a wide range of influences including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Syd Barrett, Robin Williamson, the Marx Brothers, Flanders and Swann, Bing Crosby, Tom Lehrer, Gilbert and Sullivan, Frederick Delius, J. S. Bach and Igor Stravinsky.
The album contains the original 14-minute version of “Slark” which was later re-recorded in a much shorter version for a single. “Slark” was the highlight of many Stackridge concerts, combining as it did folk and progressive rock elements.
Stackridge were described by the Guardian as “prog rock and folk rock without the self-regarding pomposity of the former and the high seriousness of the latter.”
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