Spooky Tooth / Pierre Henry ‎– Ceremony: An Electronic Mass

Just to warn you in advance:
"Ceremony - An Electronic Mass" can in no way be classified as easy listening or tea-time background music. It also has little to do with the SPOOKY TOOTH one knows otherwise, although the name acted as a virtual trademark for the first release. And this music didn't bring much luck for Spooky Tooth, either, for in the end this electronic rock mass actually meant the split of this popular rock band.
On Spooky Tooth itself: Very few music fans today know that long before its official formation the group existed under the names "VIPs" and "Art". It was first christened Spooky Tooth when the American Gary Wright joined the combo band in the late autumn of 1967. The group developed from an insider tip with one bluesy LP to become one of the most striking rock bands on the scene. Already in 1969 they were mentioned in the same breath with the other so-called super-groups.
And songs like "Waiting For The Wind", "Evil Woman" or "Better By You, Better By Me" belong to the classics of rock music. But the group had scarcely reached the climax of its career when fate caught up with it. It came in person of French composer Pierre Henry.
Gary Wright (keyboards) was not only a fan of this modern classics specialist, but also an attentive student. Wright was the one who talked to other members, Mike Harrison (keyboards, vocals), Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Greg Rudley (bass) and Mike Kellie (drums), into working with the Frenchman.
Furthermore, Wright was the only one who worked on composing with Henry. His percentage of the work, however, was slight compared to the Frenchman. And Mike Harrison and Co. regarded the whole project pretty helplessly anyway. They felt like "Tools without a say" .
But finally they let themselves be pulled along again by Gary Wright's enthusiasm, for at this point nobody could foresee that "Ceremony" would speed up Spooky Tooth's split. When the recording was over and the relatively satisfied musicians went on holiday from the studio, Pierre Henry grabbed the tapes. Without informing his colleagues he added the sound elements of his own musical world.
The effect was explosive, not only between the Frenchman and the band. "Ceremony" became one of the most controversial albums of the 60's. On the drug scene the electronic mass became the musical accompaniment to eerie trips into dream-world.
In accompaniment to the gruesome-beautiful, mystical and often threatening sounds various pill poppers and juice drinkers experienced glorious psy-fi trips into artificial paradise.
The experiment touched off a bitter controversy in the rest of the rock world. Some found it hideous, repulsive and crazy, others saw new doors being opened for infinite realms of music.
For Spooky Tooth, however, the "Ceremony" LP honestly didn't mean much. Only Gary Wright would have liked to have worked further in this direction. This was perhaps the most important reason why the group split after only one more album.