Arc - ...At This

From the deepest footnotes of UK prog

Arc’s brief time on the roster of a major UK label might be long forgotten, but their debut album and fascinating antecedents are well worth remembering. Based around the songwriting partnership of keyboard player Mickey Gallagher and guitarist John Turnbull (bandmates since their time in Newcastle R&B combo The Chosen Few), Arc were formed from the debris of cult pysch outfit Skip Bifferty. Bifferty had released an album and three singles for RCA in 1967, before later re-emerging in early ’69 as Heavy Jelly, with a oneoff single for Island. I Keep Singing That Same Old Song.

Arc’s debut saw the light of day on Decca’s progressive imprint, Nova, in early 1971. It lifts the curtain on a band with a distinctly atypical sound and songwriting approach based around a willingness to reshuffle their deck of melodic and progressive cards. Despite the innovative and categorydefying moments across these nine tracks, ...At This sank without trace.

A second album, Bell & Arc, subsequently appeared on Charisma, though it suffered the same fate. Gallagher and Turnbull also appeared as guest musicians on Roy Budd’s Get Carter soundtrack, before later resurfacing as members of Ian Dury’s Blockheads.

Esoteric | ECLEC 2097

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
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