The Ullulators - Flaming Khaos (1989) {2008, Reissue}

The Ullulators will be forever linked to the Ozric Tentacles and indeed the liner notes to the CD version of this album Ozric Tentacles are mentioned a lot more than The Ullulators are. As everyone will probably know, The Ullulators founding member & guitarist Gavin Griffiths was also a founding member along with Ed Wynn of the Ozric Tentacles. Both bands earned their spurs playing live around the South of England at the many free festivals held during the 1980s, including the legendary Stonehenge Free Festival. Through the years since Gavin left the Ozrics to form The Ullulators many musicians have passed through & played in both bands at various times with the sound of both bands taking a very similar ‘Psychedelic-Space Rock’ path fused with elements of Dub, Reggae, Electronica & Ambient Chill-Out. But while the Ozrics went from strength to strength releasing a whole host of brilliant albums throughout the 80s/90s & 2000s, The Ullulators-like so many of the original festival bands around at the time ( Nukli PSI, Magic Mushroom Band, The Oroonies, Edna's Horror Toilet, etc) faded in obscurity, rarely seen or heard of since. Like the Ozric Tentacles The Ullulators released their early music via cassette tapes, handmade & crudely recorded then sold at the various festivals the bands were appearing at. These tapes contain lots of glorious recordings & jams but are spoilt by poor production, bad tape hiss, sound drops & lots of not very good 'filler' tracks. Also there was the odd ‘filler’ track, spoken gobbledegook & very irritating TV/Radio snippets/samples between tracks (Nukli were terrible for that!)

For this album ‘Flaming Khaos’ The Ullulators went for a really polished fuller sound with a pin sharp more-professional production which is on another level compared to those early tape albums. And if it had gotten picked up by a mainstream radio DJ could easily of attracted a far bigger audience than it did do.​ Sadly the kind of people who frequented those festivals in the 80s weren't the kind to rush out on mass & buy the album so unless a wider audience was reached (like the Ozrics achieved) there was very little chance of big success for these kind of bands. Every track on this album is a real stormer, you will be singing along with the songs, tapping your foot & nodding your head & the melodies will stay in your head for days!!! A Bit of a sideways step from the more aggressive supersonic-riffs of the Ozrics, although still in the ‘Steve Hillage’ solo camp, only on the very last track ‘Do Ya Wanna’ does Simon really let rip on his guitar ‘Ozric Style’ over Janie's beautiful dreamy vocals. Before that are a series of very catchy-melodic songs with some killer guitar riffs and hooks. Several tracks get a re-working from the bands early tapes and from the first piano chords of ‘Don't Thump The Hamster’ you know this is going to be something special! ‘Special Brew’ especially sounds superb, the vocals in the second half so crisp and at the front (unlike on the tapes where you could hardly hear them).

Jane Bradfield really does do a fantastic job on the album, her vocals are a cross between Liz Frazier (Cocteau Twins) and Martha Johnson (Martha And The Muffins). They sound so good in-between Simon's menacing guitar riffs & Kay Springers bass-lines. ‘Mr Buddha Geks’ could easily of been a breakthrough single, a very uplifting song with some great hooks & riffs and Janies vocals powering through the song. It kind of backs itself into a corner near the end and spoils the flow of the song (very irritating when dancing at a gig!) before its finds its feet again and launches into its finale. ‘Feel It’ goes into Dub mode with Kay taking lead vocals ably backed up by Janie before the end track the aforementioned ‘Do Ya Wanna’ brilliantly closes the album with Simon's menacing solo hanging over the beautiful vocals like a stoned Grim Reaper. The album flows effortlessly from start to finish, the musicianship is of the highest quality, the songs very-very catchy as stated before the production is top notch! Ad to that Janes fantastic vocals and this is a true undiscovered classic.