Anything by a band named “Space Farm” can’t be bad, right? Wrong.
This 1972 “masterpiece” can be heard here: it’s called “Homeward Bound,” and it would have potential if the frontman was capable of singing in tune. I listened to this for you, readers, and I truly hope you appreciate my sacrifice because I’m pretty sure this shortened my life span and killed off several brain cells.
While the song isn’t terrible, the instrumental musicians are pretty decent, and the production value is pretty standard for the early 1970s, nothing can overcome THAT SINGER.
“Reach out for the SkyyyYYYYYYYYYYYeeeeYYYYYYY!”
Dude you make me want to reach into my drawer and find some earplugs and pray to the Loch Ness Monster for this to be over.
Space Farm was a trio of New Zealanders: Harvey Mann, Glen Absolum, and Billy Williams. There was a part time member, Bob Gillet, who sometimes played saxophone with them. Apparently they had some success in the underground music scene before busting up in 1973 when Harvey stopped doing drugs and ended up writing boring music without the influence of mind-altering substances. Damn it, Harvey, you’re letting the team down.
Poor Harvey. As the guitarist, there’s a lot of pressure on him to be a fantastic musician; to be totally fair, his guitar skills are pretty decent with a Jimi Hendrix influence. You can’t go wrong with that. There are no official sources that name the vocalist on “Homeward Bound,” but many (are there many people who know of this band? Maybe “a few” would be a better indication of this band’s fan base) who think that our friend Harvey was the seagull squawking out the lyrics on this album. COME ON, HARVEY.
This was Space Farm’s only album, released by Zodiac records.
I can’t help but think someone needs to cover this song, and leave Harvey out of it ( or just give him a guitar and no microphone) because this might have potential without him crowing what are probably decent lyrics.
Any takers?