Search - Writing on the Wall :: Power of the Picts

Totally obscure heavy rock album, with early prog leanings

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 03/09/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are so many hard rock, psychedelic and prog bands that are known, everyone from Led Zeppelin to Yes to Deep Purple to Jethro Tull, and there are those that fell through the cracks, such as High Tide. Scotland's Writing on the Wall is another example, but even more obscure than High Tide (at least High Tide is known by Hawkwind collectors due to the inclusion of Simon House). The Power of the Picts was released in 1969 on a small label called Middle Earth Records (the label only had something like five albums released in its very short life), so you know right the original LP isn't easy to come by. I believe the label was named after the famous London nightclub, and I guess the label signed those bands who performed at Middle Earth the bigger labels wouldn't touch (as many major acts had played in the club too). The band consisted of vocalist Linnie Paterson, guitarist Willy Finlayson, bassist Jake Scott, drummer Jimmy Hush, and keyboardist Bill Scott. Linnie Paterson joined Beggars Opera after the demise of Writing on the Wall for the album Get Your Dog Off Me (1973), apparently not one of their better albums, but best known for their cover of "Classical Gas". This is some early heavy rock with some psychedelic and prog leanings. Sometimes the music is a bit like a much heavier Procol Harum, or of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (at times Linnie Paterson can sound just like Brown, like on "Aries", but a lot of times he don't remind me of any particular vocalist). The highlights of this album, without a doubt include "Mrs. Cooper's Pie", "Aries", and "Bogeyman". "Aries" features some spoken dialog with a uniquely Scottish accent, with some space rock tendencies (especially in the organ work), heavy metal guitar riffs, and a cool jazzy solo. More recently I purchased an album on Elektra Records called The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds (1967) (this obscure project was allegedly the first rock album with synthesizer, in which Paul Beaver provided Moog, and got help from famous L.A. sessionmen including Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Bud Shank, etc.) and I was rather shocked to see the first song was "Aries". When I heard it, it sounded real familiar. Oh yeah, Writing on the Wall covered that song! Unsurprisingly, because of Writing on the Wall's hard rock leanings, there should be a harder rock feel than the original, with Sabbath-like guitar work. Yes, the Cosmic Sounds album was released in the UK, so that's how Writing on the Wall got a hold of it (same for East of Eden, who borrowed another cut from that album, "Taurus" for their own "In the Stable of the Sphinx" off Mercator Projected). "Shadow of Man" is, like King Crimson's "The Devil's Triangle", another song that's partially borrowed from Holst's The Planets, only of course, the organ is used instead of the Mellotron. "Hills of Dream" is a more mellower piece and sounds more like typical early '70s British prog rock (ie, not much of a bluesy hard rock feel as you get throughout most of the album). The CD reissue also contains two bonus cuts, "Child on Crossing" and "Lucifer's Corpus". Both of these were originally released as a single in 1969 on the same label The Power of the Picts was released on, Middle Earth. In fact the single was the very first release on that label, and it basically tied people over until the band completed the album. Anyway, two excellent cuts that are very much in the same vein as the album itself, probably the only reason it never made it on to the original LP was due to lack of space. While "Mrs. Cooper's Pie", "Aries" and "Bogeyman" are clearly the album's best songs, the rest don't quite reach the heights of those songs, but none of them are bad. Worthwhile album if you like early British heavy rock/psych/prog."

Scots band give it welly

James Waugh | edinburgh | 03/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Writing on the Wall came to London after several successful years in Scotland as the Jury.Power of the Picts showed a big change in their style. A genuine move to Phycedelic/power material. Some of the lyrics are showing their age but the music behind the singer, Linny Patterson is first class with great work from Bill Scott, the organ player. Get it in the car and give it welly.Willy Finlayson, who played guitar on most tracks, left the band for a while but showed excellent form for the time.



James Waugh"