THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hawkwind, Jefferson Airplane, and Tull all mixed together!”
“The precursor to The Cramps’ Bad Music For Bad People.”
“Predates The White Stripes by 20 years!”
“This reminds me of early Kurt Vile demos in areas.”
“Sounds like something Jack White would do now.”
These are some of the comments you can find on YouTube by people who have just discovered Oliver’s private press masterpiece Standing Stone. That gives you an idea of how unique and ahead of its time Oliver’s music is. Recording all by himself at a remote farm in Wales (within hailing distance of the real Standing Stone in the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire) and assisted by his brother Chris (a BBC engineer at the time), Oliver self-released 1974’s Standing Stone, which became a cult album before being reissued on Guerssen Records last year.
Fans of Standing Stone will be blown away when they hear Stone Unturned, a previously unreleased second Oliver album, also recorded in 1974 at the farm and assisted by brother Chris. Performed by Oliver using a single mic, guitars and various effects devices, this is in the same vein as Standing Stone but even more loose and raw. Highly recommended to any acid folk / psych blues fan.
Oliver has been compared with many famous virtuosos, but there are none quite like him. His sounds are derived from no quarter, although attributions have been made, but anyone with a feel for psychedelic guitar, acid folk and mysticism could not deny that his work is unique in its own breathtaking way, an offering from the deepest point of his being.”
