Ithaca - Journey (Destruction - Rebirth - Patterns Of Life) 1973. UK Progressive Psych-Folk

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ITHACA - Journey (Destruction - Rebirth - Patterns Of Life)

From Ithaca - A Game For All Who Know

First off, don't be deceived by the shitty album cover, because this is a really good album. Ithaca was a British band that played melodic, progressive psych-folk. This is their last album, which was a private-pressed LP that never gained much attention. Most of the album is fairly sparse, sophisticated arrangements of acoustic guitar and electric organ accompanied by male and female vocals that trade off very naturally and pleasantly. There is some use of piano, electric guitar, strings, Mellotron, and recorder, which are all subtle and well integrated. Most of the songs are songs within songs, so there are a number of drastic changes that are very well conceived compositionally and thematically. I've had this album for a while now and it continues to grow on me more and more, especially considering my initial copy's tracks were out of sequence. I find it to be very compelling lyrically, thematically and stylistically. There just seems to be a lot going on that isn't initially apparent.


Peter Howell & John Ferdinando were involved in several recording projects in the late 1960s and early '70s that fused the poppier sides of British folk-rock and British progressive rock. In particular, their very limited-edition (50-100 copies) pressings of albums by Agincourt and Ithaca are valued by some specialist psychedelia collectors. Though a little lo-fi compared to records from the era of a similar nature on bigger labels, the albums to which the pair contributed have a nice light, airy, slightly naive feel, and are considerably above the average for such rarities of the time and style. Before doing the Agincourt and Ithaca albums, Peter Howell and John Ferdinando also put out a limited-edition LP in early 1969 of the soundtrack they did for the Ditchling Players' production of Alice Through the Looking Glass. This project arose out of an outgrowth of the pair's interest in recording material on their own equipment, outside of proper professional studios. The small town in which they resided, Ditchling (in Sussex, near Brighton), became aware of their activities and asked them to provide the music for the local stage production. Using many instruments (including guitars, organ, glockenspiel, piano, autoharp, mandolin, and sound effects), they constructed a musical backdrop that was akin to their future, slightly more celebrated efforts, but a little folkier and more basic. It was nice, low-key, almost wholly instrumental, whimsical period British psychedelia, but understandably more on the level of incidental music than an artistic statement. Unfortunately, the album was interrupted by insertions of jarring lo-fi spoken word extracts from the play, though most of the space was taken up by the music, which was acceptably well recorded. Howell and Ferdinando stopped working together in the '70s, after Howell (who'd been a BBC studio manager since 1970) began working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where he worked on background music for radio, television, and film. The Alice Through the Looking Glass album was reissued in 1997 as a limited-edition LP in a press run of 1000 copies by Tenth Planet. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

A fith Howell/Ferdinando album entitled "Friends" had lust been completed when the partnership came to an abrupt halt. Howell had already been working at the BBC as a studio manager since 1970 (he'd provided a stiff upper lip voiceover for John Peels Top Gear shows), but he was now offered a position with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. His new job combined tape recording with various compositional duties to create primarily background music for film, radio and television use (he was also responsible for updating the Dr Who theme tune, but we wont hold such a sacrilegious act against him). His new job description was indistinguishable from his extracurricular collaborations with John Ferdinando, and the duo's spare-time activities duty telt by the wayside. Without his longstanding partner, John Ferdinando drifted away trom the music scene to concentrate on his day job as a chartered surveyor, although he now plays bass in a local pub band.

Peter Howell - acoustic & classical guitars, mandolin;

piano & organ; recorder; percussion

John Ferdinando - vocals & vocalizes; electric, acoustic &

bass guitars; auto harp

Lee Menelaus - vocals & backing vocals

Prologue. In all, there are five albums in the discography of Howell, Ferdinando, & Menelaus. Stylistically and structurally, all these albums are in many ways similar among themselves. Nevertheless, the band's name was changed thrice during its existence. Here is the complete discography of Howell, Ferdinando, & Menelaus: 1969 - "Alice Through the Looking Glass", 1970 - "Tomorrow Comes Sunday" (both as S.N.P.), 1971 - "Fly Away", & 1973 - "A Game For All Who Know" (as Ithaca).