It was a time when rock, folk, blues, and most music scenes of recent decades spilled and blended into another fascinating, heady brew, sometimes resulting in a unique sound all their own.

That experience was actually the beacon for listeners like John Peel to form his own label, for example, while a certain four-letter word was still two years away from building up steam on its own ramshackle branch line.

One of the rarest of the mixtures that became known as psych/acid/freak folk was issued in 1974 in only 200 copies by Oliver Chaplin, who played all instruments, aided on the technical side by Chris Chaplin. It was recorded on a Welsh farm (not far from the standing stone of the title) a year earlier, with contributions from some “smaller winged creatures” of the feathered or just untethered kind.

Older brother Chris had been in various rural bands from the start of the 1960s and brought back current influences from abroad into the large family home. The four brothers played in bands such as The Rebels and The Avengers while living first on their Suffolk farm, and Oliver also performed as a duo with his sibling Giles. Nearby lived Ivan Pawle, who later moved to Ireland and co-founded the seminal psych-folk band Dr. Strangely Strange.

In 1965, the Chaplins moved to Pembrokeshire, near the mountains that were used to build Stonehenge. After Oliver returned from university (where he saw Ivan Pawle’s band play), the farm became a haven for creative hippies in the area, with one jam lasting three days! They also ventured out from time to time to local venues to see the Welsh Dylan, Meic Stevens, and Ralph McTell, among others. Festivals were also organized between 1973 and 1975, partly by his girlfriend, featuring acts such as Arthur Brown and Global Village Trucking Company, with some, like the Incredible String Band and Hawkwind’s Dave Brock, deciding to stay. In various configurations, the brothers played local halls, pubs, colleges, and parties, not always with lyrics for their energetic compositions, which were otherwise perfectly attuned to their free-form spirit.

Around 1967, Chris landed a job at the BBC in central London and worked his way up to their transcription service department, which had a vinyl-cutting lathe of its own, from where discs were sent to Decca for pressing. Chris bought Oliver a four-track Teac reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Oliver had already made some guitar effects himself, including an improvised fuzz box, as heard on this recording. Chris added some more effects—though he couldn’t outdo the birds and unsexual bees on the original—before sending it to Decca. A printer over-darkened the cover, resulting in two variants.

The assumed influences were usually denied by Oliver, countering that they only listened at first to the blues legend Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, and Elvis. For example, Captain Beefheart’s jagged, fuzzed-up bluesy riffs and distorted, swampy vocals spring to mind but are here stirred by tongue-in-cheek irony; perhaps also Syd Barrett or acoustic Jethro Tull at their most whimsical. I might add Tractor in their less industrial mode, Fresh Maggots, Dawnwind, or later Dr. Strangely Strange from Vertigo on (a new album due in April!). Either way, Oliver seems wired, though magic mushrooms (almost), as no synthesizer trickery was used.

<a href="https://oliverchaplin.bandcamp.com/album/standing-stone">Standing Stone by Oliver</a>

BBC DJs Alan Black and Brian Matthews would only play it if distribution had been arranged, though John Peel featured it a few times as it was. Virgin offered to do so on sale or return, but that never happened (for a one-man performance months before their mega-selling Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield), especially as Oliver wanted control of his own work. For thirty bob (one pound fifty pence, the raw cost), family and friends could benefit from the non-profit venture until, in the 1990s, a copy was found at a car boot sale, sparking interest from collectors around the world. Oliver sold his last remaining copies, but it was reissued soon after on Tenth Planet, until this edition, which is the first to restore the original layout. Unreleased material has since been issued as ‘Stone Unturned.’ This label has unearthed some gems in recent years, including Wicked Lady (May Blitz rubbed with the youth of Clear Blue Sky) and the equally rare Pig Rider, among several others.

Oliver now works in the transport industry for famous musicians and doesn’t regret his preference for obscurity. He sees it as proof that “anyone can make a record if they really want to and still have fun getting on with the rest of their lives.” A laudable DIY ethic, which was more famously exploited in urban sprawls just a couple of years later. Oliver is an atmospheric, hypnotic listen worth revisiting, whatever your mood.

Brian R. Banks

Oliver – ‘Standing Stone’ (1974, Guerssen reissue)