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• Coming together at the end of the Sixties, Essex band Dear Mr. Time were a five-piece progressive rock outfit influenced by the likes of King Crimson and The Moody Blues.
• Having built up their act while touring in France and Germany, Dear Mr. Time returned to England, signing a deal with the independent Square label. Square released the band’s seven-ages-of-man concept album “Grandfather” in early 1971, but although it attracted good reviews, the LP failed to reach many shops and duly sank without trace.
• With Vertigo’s interest in signing Dear Mr. Time scuppered by the fact that Square had signed them to an exclusive three-year deal, the band decided to split before a second album could be recorded.
• By the early Nineties, original copies of “Grandfather” were selling for large sums of money, and the album was counterfeited several times before finally being legally reissued in 2010.
• Buoyed by the reception that the official reissue received, the core members of Dear Mr. Time reconvened, recording two further albums – “Brontosaurs And Bling” and “Time” – as well as recording tracks for a proposed fourth album.
• Our new anthology of the band’s work assembles all three Dear Mr. Time albums and adds that proposed fourth album.
• We also add some fascinating early Seventies home demos from guitarist and chief songwriter Chris Baker, performing a batch of songs that would have formed the basis of that aborted follow-up to “Grandfather”.
• With a booklet that illustrates the band’s story with rare photos and new quotes, our expanded 3-CD release of “Grandfather” – which includes around two dozen previously unissued tracks – is the final word on a progressive rock band who, although they made a limited impression at the time, have now attracted collector interest for more than three decades
Tracklist
DISC ONE:
GRANDFATHER
1. BIRTH – THE BEGINNING
2. OUT OF TIME
3. MAKE YOUR PEACE
4. YOURS CLAUDIA
5. PRELUDE (to YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU?)
6. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU?
7. A DAWNING MOONSHINE
8. YEARS AND FORTUNES
9. A PRAYER FOR HER
10. LIGHT UP A LIGHT
11. ON A LONELY NIGHT
12. GRANDFATHER
BONUS TRACKS
13. ONLY FOOLING
14. HENRIETTA HALL
15. NOT NOW AT ALL
16. VICTORIAN BLUE
17. THIS PLACE WAS US WAS HOME
18. WHEN BABY COMES*
19. A SONG OF FAIRGROUNDS*
20. GOLD AND SILVER*
21. TRUE BLUE*
22. WHEN YOU MOVE*
23. ALL I HAVE TO GIVE*
24. AUGUST LIGHTS*
25. NAKED FINGERS*
Tracks 1-12 The album Grandfather, released February 1971 (Square Records SQA 101)
Tracks 13-25 Chris Baker home demos recorded 1970-71
DISC TWO:
BRONTOSAURS AND BLING
1. PIG HEAVEN
2. IN ’67
3. I DON’T UNDERSTAND (PERU)
4. LIKE THE FIRST TIME AGAIN
5. ON HALLOWED GROUND
6. IT’S ONLY LOVE/TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY
7. SITTING IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN
8. PIGS IN OUTER SPACE
9. BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE
10. THE UNIVERSE IN MY HEART
11. STREETWISE
12. SONGBIRD IN THE RAIN
13. PERU (Reprise)
BONUS TRACKS
14. FULL CIRCLE*
15. WE’RE ONLY HUMAN*
16. MAISIE GREY*
17. DON’T GO HOLDING ON TO ME*
18. KIFISSIA SUNRISE*
19. ALL THE SAME*
Tracks 1-13 The album Brontosaurs And Bling (DMT DMT 0001, released 2015)
Tracks 14-19 Previously unreleased, recorded 2020-21
DISC THREE:
TIME
1. ACID RAIN
2. TODAY IS SUCH A LOVELY DAY
3. THE ONE WHO SAVED THE SUN
4. ELEPHANTS DUMP
5. SUMMER DAYS WITH YOU
6. EINSTEIN IN THE SUN
7. MR. TOWERS’ HOURS
8. GIMME JAM
9. I WILL BE WITH YOU
10. NEVER DONE GODSPELL
11. HOME AGAIN
12. WE ALWAYS KNEW
13. THE HOUSES IN BETWEEN
BONUS TRACKS
14. ARCHIE VINE*
15. WHEN WE WERE YOUNG*
16. LONELY EYES*
17. THE SENTIMENTALIST*
18. THE ONE*
19. WALK THE WORLD*
20. WHAT WILL BE*
21. THERE IS NO MORE (YOU DO IT ALL)*
1-13 The album Time (DMT DMT 0002, released 2018)
14-21 Previously unreleased, recorded 2020-21
*previously unreleased