I'm a bit too young to remember Thames Television's 'spooky' early '70s kids drama 'Ace Of Wands' the first time around (no, really) but I've always loved the theme tune. The work of one Andrew 'Andy' Bown, once a member of '60s heartthrobs The Herd, and future keyboard player for 'The Quo'. He was in a band called Judas Jump at the time of this track, and the sonic qualities of it are very similar to JJ's output, but it's better than anything on their only LP, IMHO (with the exception of the opening cut, perhaps).
Andrew Bown - Tarot (Ace Of Wands Theme - Soundhog's Extended Edit) by soundhog
4 comments:
I *am* old enough to remember "Ace of Wands" (although I remained convinced for years that it was called "Tarot"). The theme was very much part of the programme and my only real complaint about the track was that it was just too short. Your re-edit therefore makes me very happy. If you're interested, there's a page here: http://www.aceofwands.net/titles.html that tells a little about the song's lyrics, which were written by Trevor Preston, the programme's creator.
Thanks for the nice words, Jonathan! I did see a bit of the show at a friends house a while back (he's got that DVD of the remaining episodes, but also watched it when it went out) but I was aware of the tune from when it came out on a CD compilation about 10 years ago. I'm amazed it wasn't a hit in 1970 when it came out on Parlophone, it's such a brilliant record but perhaps the ITV connection stopped it getting exposure on Radio One? Trevor Preston's lyrics are great, similar to what I think a lot of late '60s bands were reaching for but never managed.
Incidentally, on my Mix90 #5 set (which is one here somewhere), the first track is from the Judas Jump LP - you'll note the striking similarity in sound to Tarot, probably because it's basically done by the same group!
Had this theme in my head on and off for 10s of years; would love to know the words definitively as have always sung the wrong ones! Great work to resurrect the tune Thanks!
WWW cobweb. The link is long dead :(
Post a Comment