Ceremony (Spooky Tooth and Pierre Henry album)
1969 studio album by Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry
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Ceremony is the third studio album by the rock band Spooky Tooth in collaboration with French experimental composer Pierre Henry. The world premiere was on September 2, 1970, in Olympia, Paris, France. The album was dedicated to Béatrice.
| Ceremony | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry | ||||
| Released | December 1969[1] | |||
| Genres | ||||
| Length | 45:13 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producers | Spooky Tooth, Pierre Henry | |||
| Spooky Tooth chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Record Guide | [3] |
Ceremony earned bad reviews on its original release and was a commercial disappointment, due in part to its drastic departure from the blues rock of Spooky Tooth's earlier output.
History and critical reception
The album takes the form of a mass.
The project was instigated by Gary Wright of Spooky Tooth, who admired Henry's music.[4] However, Wright also said the album effectively ended the band's career. Ceremony is also described being "one of the great screw-ups in rock history".[4] As Wright described:
- "...we did a project that wasn't our album. It was with this French electronic music composer named Pierre Henry. We just told the label, 'You know this is his album, not our album. We'll play on it just like [hired] musicians.' And then when the album was finished, they said, 'Oh no no — it's great. We're gonna release this as your next album.' We said, 'You can't do that. It doesn't have anything to do with the direction of Spooky Two and it will ruin our career.' And that's exactly what happened."[5]
Wright left the band following the release of the album.
On the 2024 album Vultures 1 by American hip-hop duo ¥$, "Jubilation" was sampled on the track "Problematic".
Track listing
Personnel
Spooky Tooth
- Mike Harrison – vocals
- Luther Grosvenor – guitar
- Gary Wright – vocals, organ
- Andy Leigh – bass guitar
- Mike Kellie – drums
with
- Pierre Henry – musique concrete, electronics
Production
- Produced by Pierre Henry and Spooky Tooth
- Recorded and engineered by Andy Johns
- John Holmes – cover painting
Charts
| Chart (1970) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[7] | 28 |
| US Billboard 200[8] | 92 |