Head ~ Scotland

Red Dwarf (1975)

Head were a band from Glasgow, Scotland who had a pretty good run of three albums, though all of them could best be described as "obscure". Red Dwarf appears to their most known and respected album. Here the band intersects with - on the far left of the circle - the Canterbury scene. I'm most reminded of Ian Carr's Nucleus, and like that crew, Head finds themselves immersed into the jazzy wing of the genre. In fact much of the album is just that - jazz. But a track like 'White Giant' definitely has the Canterbury pedigree with its driving fuzz bass and familiar melody lines. At times the album sounds like a jazz band playing classical music (Third Stream?). There's quite a bit of noodling going on here as well. I've read comparisons that Head sound like electric era Miles Davis, but I don't hear it myself. Seems to be a highly rated album by many, but to me it's more academic than enlightening. A solid "good" album, but nothing more from me.

No reissues exist as of 3/11/25.

3/21/19 (review / new entry)