The Lazily Spun - A Posting Dream To Gulliver Smith (1997)

The Lazily Spun were named after the results of classic experiments performed in the 1950's, whereby flies were injected with various drugs (mescaline, cannabis preparation, LSD, and caffeine) and then fed to spiders. The subsequent webs produced by the spiders were then analysed, and the LSD and mescaline webs looked as if they were "lazily spun". The band got together in the mid-90's, with a sound based on their love of far out 60s psychedelia, contemporary psych-miscreants, mycology, and studio trickery. Gigs in Manchester caught the ear of local music legends John Squire (Stone Roses) and Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets) who offered guidance, and a demo tape was recorded in 1996, capturing the attention of the respected Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine. A feature article and tracks for consecutive Terrascope 7" releases - 'Old Guy' and 'A Puce Moment' (the latter a cover of the legendary Hermit by Kenneth Anger soundcraft wizard Jonathon Halper) led to the band deciding to sell copies of the demo, and that's when I got my copy. Despite being considered a 'demo' (with a view to re-recording with better equipment at a later date) the album was well received on the underground scene and 'The Whole' was included on the Camera Obscura compilation 'Serotonin Ronin II'. 
Despite the critical success of the tape, the band felt they were making slow progress, and this, combined with internal tensions and challenging life events, persuaded them to call it a day. They reformed a few years later and recorded their debut album proper in 2000, but I've always had a soft spot for these rough-round-the-edges recordings and so have kept this tape for over 20 years. The original cassette didn't include 'A Puce Moment' as the final track, as I added that myself from the Ptolemaic Terrascope 7" single, and then amended the track listing, but since I gave the tape to another website many years ago for them to post, and they published my revised track listing, it's now listed on most sites like Discogs and RateYourMusic as being on the original cassette, so that's all my fault. (You can probably tell that the writing is not by the same hand, although I tried to match the other script as closely as I could). Anyway, the music is what matters, so here's an album that really should have been picked up by an enterprising record company in 1997 and given a proper release. 

Track listing

01 Old Guy
02 Dissected
03 Marjorie's Hoedown
04 From Nought To Zero
05 The Rock
06 SHT
07 Big Laughing Gym
08 Prince Valium
09 Hypnopompic Zygosis
10 A Posting Dream To Gulliver Smith
11 The Whole
12 Forest Of Spores
13 A Puce Moment