condition (record/cover): NM / EX- (minimal wear) - Ceremony on Philips documents one of the strangest collaborations in rock history: Pierre Henry joining forces with Spooky Tooth, British blues-rock band more accustomed to sweaty clubs than Parisian studios. The result baffled everyone, which may have been the point.
Henry treats the rock band as raw material, subjecting guitars and drums to the same transformations he'd apply to any sound source. Spooky Tooth's Gary Wright and Mike Harrison deliver performances that Henry then dismembers, reassembles, renders unrecognizable. The album sold poorly, confused critics, alienated both audiences. Decades later it sounds prophetic, anticipating the collisions between electronic manipulation and rock energy that would become commonplace. Philips deserves credit for releasing something so commercially suicidal.
