Graham Bond :: Holy Magick
Born Graham John Clifton Bond in Romford, Essex, on the 28th of October 1937, and adopted shortly thereafter, Bond was better known for occupying the alchemical alias Magi, or Billy Gamble, depending on what side of the legend you’re on, and was a mighty English rock/blues musician and vocalist, as well as the founding father of the English rhythm and blues revolution in the 1960s. Before his fundamental fascination with the overwhelming output of occultism throughout the decade and the rapid-fire ritualism of his sudden change of creative charisma, Bond pushed the bountiful boundaries of the jazz saxophone in his early career while participating in the Don Rendell Quintet and Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, before eagerly establishing his own Quartet, the Graham Bond Quartet, with members from Creem, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce, as well as founding member, and leader of Mahavishnu Orchestra John McLaughlin for 1970’s “Solid Bond.” A collection of early to mid-1960s recordings that predate the formation of Clapton’s Cream, Bond’s iconic influence on the scene struck a cultural chord in the coming of age during the rock and roll and R&B explosion in England at the time. His story is a complicated tale of exhaustive efforts in the music industry with a history of mental health issues and the hardships of addiction to follow. Bond’s life was unfortunately cut short in the spring of 1974 at just the age of 36 by a speeding train, which some argue was a suicide, but continues to lie dormant in the cosmic catacombs of the musician’s melodic memory half a century later, while the spirituality of his sound lingers in the alchemical airwaves and dusty turntables around the world. After leaving Ginger Baker’s supergroup Airforce, the late musician quickly formed the Graham Bond Initiation with his newly married wife, American vocalist, percussionist, composer, and brief member of Gong, Diane Stewart, who shared a similar obsession and passion for magic and the occult. Bond even went to great lengths, as he was convinced he was Aleister Crowley's son. While this is fascinating and ultimately telling of the musician’s overall trajectory in the arts, it should be acknowledged that there is a fine, delicate line between mental health and the total fallout of the mind, and its never-ending mysteries.
“According to ancient Druidic and Celtic legend, King Arthur will return in this age of Aquarius to sustain us. And man, he’s going to blow a mean blues; according to Merlin Bond! Long before the recent spate of black magic involvement by some groups, Graham has been involved in white, or as he prefers to call it, holy magick. In order to help the world and perhaps gain a little more understanding, he has devoted his latest album to the true seekers of light”. The lyrics are mainly incantations and chants in Egyptian and Atlean. Stonehenge is photographed on the sleeve with Graham and his wife Diane Stewart, raising their arms in supplication. If you can’t take the magick, however, there is a lot of wailing music to enjoy. Graham sings with his usual pre-Joe Cocker intensity, and plays organ, piano, and sax. Keith Bailey is a storm on drums, and other musicians involved are Victor Brox, Big Pete Bailey, Aliki Ashman, John Gross, Alex Dmochowski, Godfrey McLean, and John Morsehead. They are at their best on slow-tempo blues like “The Judgment”. And even if you don’t want an astral temple constructed around you, playing side one should help contact the “higher forces”, according to Bond. At least we can invent a new category - Rockult!”
While acting as the driving force in the practical poetics of ancient studies and practices, Bond managed to sign with the legendary Vertigo label, which would go on to release Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality,” Gentle Giant’s “Aquiring the Taste,” and Manfred Mann’s “Chapter Three,” to name a few, the musician was in good company as a sonic shift began to take place in England in the early to mid-1970s with the dawn of heavy metal, and sorcery in sound. With the release of Bond’s holier-than-thou album “Holy Magik” in the summer of 1970, a much darker and alchemical approach to music began to unfold for the late musician, as the surrounding elements of esoterica and rambling rituals surged through the mighty pen and into the veins of the vocalist on the edge of existential eternity. Across the album’s 17 tracks of blissed-out incantations of intense chanting in Egyptian and Athenian, Bond and company breathe a liberating life into the religious experience that was ultimately the driving force for so many bands and artists of the decade, and the music that was sometimes painfully produced to get the melodic message across to people. Where Jimmy Page took black magic, and all its drugs, and sex induced nature, Bond took it in a much different direction by deep diving into the feverish freedoms found within its sometimes twisted temptations upon the soul. This medium acted as a love letter to his wife, Diane, as he intimately explored the biblical boundaries of the ancient world through wind instruments and the ritualistic rhythms of the blues. With tracks like “Return of Arthur,” “Aquarian Mantra,” “The Judgment,” which was written by his wife, and “12 Gates To The City” all swirling in this devilish glow beneath the listener’s feet just moments before pulling you under its sonic spell, the oscillating organs, and banshee screams from Bond’s mighty Alto Saxophone break through the startled subsconscious with that familiar blues driven lead that he was so well known for.
