Second Hand - Reality (1968)

Second Hand - Reality

Reality is regarded as the first progressive rock album, and is very underrated, as far as I've come to notice. You will notice how ahead of their time this band was. "Mainliner" is the first song I've listened by Second Hand, since then this album has been in the archive. Another track "Reality" must also be noted. Enjoy.

Album information:

01 - A Fairy Tale

02 - Rhubarb

03 - Denis James the Clown

04 - Steam Tugs

05 - Good Old '59 (We Are Slowly Gettin' Older)

06 - The World Will End Yesterday

07 - Denis James (Ode to D.J.)

08 - Mainliner

09 - Reality

10 - The Bath Song

11 - A Fairy Tale [Alternative Mix]

12 - Steam Tugs [Alternative Mix]

13 - James in the Basement [Bonus]

14 - I Am Nearly There [Bonus]

Band information:

Second Hand were a British progressive rock band, established by teenagers Ken Elliott, Kieran O'Connor and Bob Gibbons in 1965. They recorded three studio albums (the firstwas released in 1968) until their breakup in 1972. The band is considered to be one of the first and most underestimated progressive rock bands in history.

Ken Elliott was 15 in 1965, when his schoolmate Kieran O'Connor, a drummer, suggested that they set up a band. Ken quickly learned to play the harmonica and the piano. Kieran also asked his friends Bob Gibbons, who played the guitar, and Grant Ramsay (bass) to join the group. The band's title was The Next Collection, the group was based in Streatham,South London. Ramsay was replaced by Arthur Kitchener soon afterwards. With him on board, the band won the Streatham ice rink battle of the bands and were awarded the privilege to make a demo recording at Maximum Sound Studios. The Next Collection recorded two songs during this session, "A Fairy Tale" and "Steam Tugs". These demo recordings were later released as bonus tracks to the 2007 reissue of the album Reality. Vic Keary, the owner of the studio, liked the band and decided to become their producer.

With Keary's support, the band signed to a prestigious Polydor label under the title The Moving Finger (a reference to one of the Omar Khayyám poems). The band started working on their first studio album, Reality with Arthur Kitchener on bass, but he quit the band during the sessions, and the bassist Nick South was found through an ad in Melody Maker. As a result, half of the songs on the album were recorded with Kitchener on the bass, and the other half with South. The album was to be released in September, but Polydor found out that the band called The Moving Finger had already released a single on Mercury Records, and so the band had to change its name. They called themselves Second Hand, as all their instruments had been bought used. The album was released at the end of 1968 and failed because of complete lack of promotional support by Polydor.

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