Definitely one of the weirder albums to come from the late 60’s uk blues/protometal scene.
Coming on the heels of the widely-hailed, blues/protometal classic Spooky Two, the band jumped back into the studio and sought to make their grand statement, a progressive, bluesy orchestral mass. Don't know if it was what was happening at the time that many of these bands were searching for validation of their musicianship and to be taken seriously (Deep Purple doing Concerto for Group and Orchestra; Vanilla Fudge doing The Beat Goes On), but rather than launch Spooky Three (which would've been awesome) the band went for a wildly ambitious, experimental concept album. Jon Lord persuaded Deep Purple to dive into the deep end with Concerto, and Gary Wright convinced Spooky Tooth to welcome acclaimed French composer and musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry for this electronic mass.
To call this a blues prog album doesn't do it justice, it is just freaking out there, with weird vocalizations, strange sounds, wild noises, and somehow some killer riffing and guitar parts. Luther Grosvenor is the real hero here, somehow tire-ironing his guitar parts in and amongst the strangeness to bring the album right into the protometal vibe. It's an album that needs to be listened to in depth, not prone for just dropping the needle, as the individual parts are rather chaotic, but as a whole it's somehow beautiful. You mustn't be impatient, but pour a beverage turn down the lights and lose yourself.
Vanilla Fudge's attempt at critical acclaim (The Beat Goes On) was a disaster, and even today is mostly unlistenable, but Ceremony: An Electronic Mass probably actually sounds better today than when it came out. The experimentation is wild, the vocals intense, the guitars downright dirty, and somehow, the spiritual uplift that they were aiming for comes through.
Not one for the timid or casual listener, but if you want a real mindblowing late-60's freakout, give this a listen.
-Racer
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