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“Soldiers of Time”
from Waiters on the Dance by Julian Jay Savarin (1971)
We all know I have a weakness for concept albums– and I feel Julian Jay Savarin’s Waiters on the Dance is even more Modcult-worthy due to the fact it accompanies an an actual science fiction novel of the same name. Definitely shades of Moorcock/Hawkwind high concept rock ‘n’ roll in this one.
In print, Waiters on the Dance was the first novel of Savarin’s His Lemmus “time” trilogy. It’s out of print, but I did manage to find this backcover blurb:
And so the great expedition began; the expedition to the virgin plant of Terra – the green globe, rich in atmosphere, in animal life and in vegetation …the colonisation would change the course of the universe.
As for the record, it is lush progressive rock with nice female vocals by one time Catapilla vocalist Lady Jo Meek (great names abound on this record). Layered compositions with lots of mellotron, and some harder edged guitar passages as well. Savarin is credited with story, arrangement, organ, and mellotron.
Previously, Savarin orchestrated a similar project, Julian’s Treatment, who also released only one progressive concept album with a (different) female vocalist, A Time Before This.