Been giving this little gem a listen this afternoon,and it crossed my mind that this seems to be a bit of an anomaly in Chris Farlowes catalogue,as it's very rarely mentioned in articles on Chris Farlowe,maybe that's because of his Immediate Recordings with Andrew Loog Oldham,Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones and the success that brought him him?

He was known for his soul,RnB and pop stylings throughout the early to mid 60s with his highly rated band The Thundebirds,but his Immediate Recordings certainly took in a more pop approach,with The Thundebirds marginalised on the studio recordings,but Chris continued with them as a touring outfit.

The inevitable disbanding of The Thunderbirds happened,but during 1969,some ex members put together The Hill,and again Chris Farlowe became involved,as a new bunch of songs had been composed by members of The Hill,in particular Steve Hammond and Bruce Waddell,and also producer Stuart Mackay,with no compositions by Chris.

Musically things had drastically changed in the UK throughout the whole decade,in particular the
later 60s,and this album trully does reflect that,as it has a more experimental edgy sound,with little trace of Chris Farlowes former sound,though his voice is unmistakable.

To MY ears this album mixes elements of late in the day psychedelia,has late era Small Faces musings and vibes,has early progressive leanings,with marvellous acoustic guitar arrangements throughout,splendid organ arrangements and emotions as it veers from heavy organ movers to more peaceful and sublime keys,the playing is trully fabulous,with marvellously arranged female backing vocalists that are kinda hazy in vibe but choral like too,the heavy use of cello gives a unique sound and the use of orchestration,particularly on one song give a sense of majestic wonder,also the use of echoed Farlowe vocals in parts adds to the more edgy vibe and the sparing use of harpsichord certainly adds a period charm.

The album seemed to have been delayed and it saw an eventual release in September 1970,but it sunk like a stone,as by that time Chris Farlowe had joined Colosseum,for Daughter of Time album,so there was no promotion,and it quickly became a memory,which is unfortunate as many people were deprived of a fine album.

For me this IS Chris Farlowes best work,and of course after Colosseum he'd join Atomic Rooster.

I won't do my usual indepth description of each song,as i'm sure it bores the hell out of many,and makes the post overlong and THAT seems to put some people off from reading it.Which defeats the whole purpose really!!

There ARE 2 cd reissues,one is a good sounding bootleg by Flawed Gems,but this has good 5 bonus tracks,including the rather splendid sole The Hill US only 1969 single"Sylvie/The 4th Annual Convention of The Battery Hen Farmers Association Part 2"along with the 1970 A side single by Chris Farlowe With the Hill"Put Out The Lights" and finally a 1968 single by Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds"Dawn/April Was The Month"which shows them in a more with the times sound,and is well worth hearing,as are ALL the bonus cuts!
The second cd reissue was released by Repertoire and is a legit reissue,and sounds absolutely superb,why they keep using Chris Welch to do the liners baffles me as he's far from his best,this has 3 bonus tracks,the same 3 as Flawed Gems but exclude the sole US only Hill 45!!

That’s all cool info Stuart. I only knew The Hill from that Immediate single, “Sylvie,” which is a nice slice of 60’s pop. I thought I read they were Lulu’s backing band at some point, but maybe I’m confused about that.
Anyway, I didn’t know they made sn album backing Chris Farlowe. I’ll have check that out.😀👍

Yeah, I guess I was thinking of the Luvvers, who were Lulu’s backing band. Maybe I got confused because they had a single called The House on the Hill, but that is about where the “hill” similarity ends😝
Anyway, I should check out that Chris Farlowe stuff.

Hello there Joe,good to see you!Hope you're keeping and doing well.

Joe i'm sure you will enjoy this album,The Hill formed from The Thunderbirds,Farlowes ex group.I agree about their single,its a rather pleasing piece of pop,and their playing on this album is excellent,plus they wrote the material,so i'd loved to have heard an album of their own,but it wasn't to be.

I had the Mama Rose Italian single but the LP got unnoticed to me too, so thanks Stuart! And I discovered there was an Italian release of it, not even listed on Discogs!