Description
Charge of the Light Brigade is an album by the British alternative rock artist Ishmael, released on Dovetail Records in 1975. The highly provocative album got a decidedly mixed reception and UK’s Scripture Union bookshops banned it for some strange reason.
Before Ishmael United (new wave zaniness) and after Ishmael & Andy (acoustic zaniness) there was simply Ishmael (proto-wave zaniness). On this album he’s backed by several musicians, including the 1975 incarnation of After The Fire (listing Peter Banks, Andy Piercy, Robin Childs, and Ian Adamson as members). Contained herein are some of the usual bizarre titles and quirky music we’ve come to expect from Mr. Smale, including «Mission To Seagulls» and «Christian Strait Jacket». «Sixth Virgin» is energized with a lively electric rock-n-roll groove, while the hard-rocking «I Am Just A Charismatic» delivers some potent guitar riffs and fuzz. That familiar cheesy organ from the future Ishmael United project makes its debut on the opening title track. I’m not sure what all instruments I hear in the bouncy «Laodicean Church», but I’d guess pots and pans, bedsprings and a duck call (I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what phrases like “C of E Pente Bapt and Co Metha Conga Free Quake” and “we got an umpti-uni-church break” mean). The mood softens for the acoustic ballad «King Of Glory», then closes on a goofy island sing-along note with «Amen And Praise De Lord». Later re-issued on Kingsway in an entirely different cover (the Dovetail original has neat colorful comic-book-styled art). This guy was way ahead of his time. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th Edition]
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LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Charge of the Light Brigade” – 3:40
A2. “Spiritual Stagnation” – 4:21
A3. “Mission to Seagulls” – 3:21
A4. “Simon and the Gypsy” – 3:12
A5. “I Am Just a Charismatic” – 2:50
Side Two
B1. “Laodicean Church” – 3:13
B2. “Christian Straight Jacket” – 3:18
B3. “Sixth Virgin” – 3:32
B4. “King of Glory” – 5:10
B5. “Amen and Praise De Lord” – 5:20
Note: Re-issued by Kingsway Music in 1980 featuring new cover artwork. Digitally remastered at the Digital Company and re-issued on CD by Kingsway Music in 1989 as a part of the label’s Kingsway Classics Series.
The Charge of the Light Brigade, Kingsway Music CD re-issue, 1989
Ian “Ishmael” Smale fronted possibly the first ever Christian punk band. In 1971 Ishmael met up with Andy Piercy and so the duo Ishmael & Andy were born. (In later years Piercy was to become an influential figure in the British Christian Music scene, fronting the seminal rock band After The Fire, becoming a worship leader at Holy Trinity Brompton and producing albums for acts like Delirious?.) The duo invented their own label, Salt, and went to the Elim Bible College studio, with Helmut Kaufmann (later to become the boss of ICC Studios) and recorded their own self-produced single, “Benedictus”/”Song Of Praise No 2”. The duo toured all over the UK with ever increasing popularity. In 1973, just before Ishmael & Andy broke up, they were invited by Word UK to record a farewell album, Ready Salted. In 1977 Ishmael released Charge of the Light Brigade. The highly provocative album got a decidedly mixed reception and Scripture Union bookshops banned it for some strange reason.
In 1979 Ishmael formed the band Ishmael United, which he called “a unique lineup of eccentrics.” The band, consisting of Ishmael (lead vocals, guitar), Dave Evans (guitar, keyboards), Laurie Mellor (bass) and Pedro Wills (drums), had a sound and an approach unlike anything else in Christendom. Kingsway Music released Ishmael United’s If You Can’t Shout Saved…You’ll Have To Face The Penalty (as well as a single featuring two album tracks; “Song Of The Last Generation” and “Crowd Trouble”), the only album of Ishmael to be released in the USA.
Being a member of Ishmael United was no easy thing. “To be honest we didn’t get on in the band. I can say that because we all get on really well now, but in those days the pressure came from the Church, because we were far too secular in their eyes to be Christian. And then of course, when we got to play to people who weren’t Christian, we were far too Christian to be secular. The NME did a review of our album, and it was like, ‘Lions 10, Christians nil’. There was so much aggression against us, we would argue amongst ourselves – even fight sometimes, physically. We changed our name to Rev Counta & The Speedose. We were doing a lot of Christian bookings but we wanted to try and get into the mainstream. It wasn’t totally successful, but we did play quite a few gigs and radio things, which certainly we wouldn’t have done being tagged as Christians.”
The band changed their name to Rev Counta & The Speedose. In 1980 Rev Counta & The Speedoze released the ‘Life Begins At 30‘ on the band’s own Duff label. With its mix of styles including new wave and Madness-style ska. Soon after, the band disbanded. Ishmael went from being a punk rocker into children’s ministry. A single “Glories”/”Return Of The Magnificent Glories” was released in 1980 but the concept really took off when Kingsway Music launched Ishmael’s Land of Hope and Glories album in 1981 and the sequel Power and the Glories the following year.
It is said that to really know somebody you have to live with them. Ian alias Ishmael, worked with me in north London as minister of three Elim Churches, although we didn’t live in the same house, it was through that situation that I really had the privilege of getting to know Ishmael well.
Ishmael’s songs are different. His songs are in his own original style. They come out of his personal experience. If he knocks something in his song writing it is those things which he finds are sham, the unnecessary things that have hurt of hindered his genuine desire to walk closer with Jesus Christ.
As a song writer, Ishmael is always saying something, and like an artist his picture makes you stop and think because the angle he looks from is unusual. But if you look carefully you will note the warning, see the sham, avoid the unnessecary. And then, maybe with tears, as I have seen in London, welcome the King of Glory with Ishmael.
Adrian Hawkes [note on the back of the album cover]
CREDITS. Ishmael wishes to thank the following for the hard work they have put into this album: John Pantry, After The Fire – comprising of Peter Banks, Andy Piercy, Robin Childs, and Ian Adamson. Helmut Kaufman, Bernhard Shaw, Nick Ryan, Amanda Paley, Elizabeth Kaufmann and Ruth Bridger. Album design Dave and Geoff Gillard (Gillard Bros Graphics), Mick Payne, Geoff Shearn.
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