'I'm Dying of the Plague' c/w 'Head Of A Dog'
Released 20th December 1966
DIVE DV565656
Roddy Ginseng (vcls, organ, piano, harpsichord, Harpsichette, spinet, Pianette), Morgan Rapsfield (guitar), Sniffer McKenzie (autoharp), John Manson (bass), Greville Handy (drums, percussion)
The Acrobats, led by multi-instrumentalist Roddy Ginseng, were touted as 'Eastbourne's answer to The Warlock Hobby' and did their best to live up to that flattering soubriquet.
Despite being hampered by a serious lack of financial support from their record company (Dive Records), they were able to record one of the most eerie singles of the 1960s, plus a staggering b-side 'Head Of A Dog'.
'I'm Dying Of The Plague' was recorded in Budgie Studios off Leicester Square in the summer of 1966. The a-side lasted for exactly three minutes, the b-side four minutes and twenty-two seconds, yet, to save money, their record company had only booked them in the studio for two and a half minutes.
It seems impossible now in a world where top groups spend at least six months in the studio just tuning up but ,with the help of engineer Geoff Handsome, The Acrobats rose to the challenge.
Handsome suggested that they spend the first thirty seconds setting up their equipment, which they dutifully did. The remaining two minutes were spent playing one live take of both songs at ten times their normal speed, with Ginseng inhaling helium to sound like a demented chipmunk.
Handsome then slowed the tape down to restore both songs to their original length and speed. The grim, industrial, thudding, slurred result was complimented by Ginseng's vocals - at this new, slow speed his voice sounded relatively normal.
As soon as they'd finished, they realised that they'd produced something that sounded like nothing else on Earth. The single was rush-released in time for the Christmas market and would have immediately hit number one hundred and ten in the pop charts, had the pop charts gone that far at the time.
Two more singles followed: the topical 'I've Got Smallpox' (studio time: one minute, forty-five seconds) and John Manson's notorious 'Why Are You On The Bed, Alice?' (studio time: forty-eight seconds), plus an EP 'The Acrobats Pull You Down' (studio time: thirty seconds)and a stunning album 'Other Gods Speak To Me' (studio time seven minutes, nineteen seconds).
After the latter the group called it a day, exhausted by excessive amphetamine use and helium inhalation. Now living on a farm in Eastbourne, Ginseng sings nursery rhymes to chickens to increase egg laying. Greville Handy was recently suspended from his post as a teacher in a boy's preparatory school, pending further enquiries.
Released 20th December 1966
DIVE DV565656
Roddy Ginseng (vcls, organ, piano, harpsichord, Harpsichette, spinet, Pianette), Morgan Rapsfield (guitar), Sniffer McKenzie (autoharp), John Manson (bass), Greville Handy (drums, percussion)
The Acrobats, led by multi-instrumentalist Roddy Ginseng, were touted as 'Eastbourne's answer to The Warlock Hobby' and did their best to live up to that flattering soubriquet.
Despite being hampered by a serious lack of financial support from their record company (Dive Records), they were able to record one of the most eerie singles of the 1960s, plus a staggering b-side 'Head Of A Dog'.
'I'm Dying Of The Plague' was recorded in Budgie Studios off Leicester Square in the summer of 1966. The a-side lasted for exactly three minutes, the b-side four minutes and twenty-two seconds, yet, to save money, their record company had only booked them in the studio for two and a half minutes.
It seems impossible now in a world where top groups spend at least six months in the studio just tuning up but ,with the help of engineer Geoff Handsome, The Acrobats rose to the challenge.
Handsome suggested that they spend the first thirty seconds setting up their equipment, which they dutifully did. The remaining two minutes were spent playing one live take of both songs at ten times their normal speed, with Ginseng inhaling helium to sound like a demented chipmunk.
Handsome then slowed the tape down to restore both songs to their original length and speed. The grim, industrial, thudding, slurred result was complimented by Ginseng's vocals - at this new, slow speed his voice sounded relatively normal.
As soon as they'd finished, they realised that they'd produced something that sounded like nothing else on Earth. The single was rush-released in time for the Christmas market and would have immediately hit number one hundred and ten in the pop charts, had the pop charts gone that far at the time.
Two more singles followed: the topical 'I've Got Smallpox' (studio time: one minute, forty-five seconds) and John Manson's notorious 'Why Are You On The Bed, Alice?' (studio time: forty-eight seconds), plus an EP 'The Acrobats Pull You Down' (studio time: thirty seconds)and a stunning album 'Other Gods Speak To Me' (studio time seven minutes, nineteen seconds).
After the latter the group called it a day, exhausted by excessive amphetamine use and helium inhalation. Now living on a farm in Eastbourne, Ginseng sings nursery rhymes to chickens to increase egg laying. Greville Handy was recently suspended from his post as a teacher in a boy's preparatory school, pending further enquiries.
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