Clark-Hutchinson - A=MH2 1969

Andy Clark (vocals, keyboards, percussion, flute, saxophone, rhythm guitar) and Mick Hutchinson (lead guitar, percussion, piano, bass) first worked together in Vamp, a short-lived UK-based quartet founded by ex-Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince in the late 60s. The group split up after completing one single, but Clark and Hutchinson remained together to record the remarkable A=MH2. This improvisatory set proved immensely popular, particularly for the latter’s impressive guitar work. A former member of Sam Gopal’s Dream, Hutchinson brought that group’s neo-Eastern influence to his new venture, highlighted superbly by the 13-minute track, ‘Improvisation On An Indian Scale’. The album’s success inspired a full-time line-up which was completed by Stephen Amazing (bass) and Del Coverly (drums). Subsequent releases lacked the innovation of the group’s debut release and Clark-Hutchinson split up following a third set, Gestalt. 
Psychedelic raga-rock guitar-dominated instrumentals can be a gas -- just listen to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's "East-West" or the Mystic Tide's "Psychedelic Journey," or even some of Robbie Krieger's solos on long Doors tracks. It can also be a bore, as demonstrated by this 49-minute rarity, comprised of five long, doodling Indian-blues-fusion instrumentals, though some vocal chanting is heard. It might be a cliché when complaining about such albums to whine that it only sounds good if you're stoned, but that axiom does seem to apply to these pieces, any one of which grows tiresome, the effect multiplied when five of them are strung together. Sure, there's some skill applied by the players, who are reasonably nimble, using throbbing Indian-influenced tempos as the backdrop. They're songs and musicians in need of some kind of structure, however, and the incessant high-pierced pitches of the guitar become grating. The results are not so much far-out as they are the sort of thing you might hear blasting away for a minute or two at a time in the background of drug orgies in some low-rent psychsploitation flicks. AMG.

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