Tranquility, Tranquility

“This might be the greatest record no-one has ever heard of!”

It’s not unusual for the Unspun Heroes team to send each other over-excited WhatsApp messages about new discoveries, but two weeks ago we found a record that none of us had heard of, doesn’t exist on Spotify and where very little is known about the musicians. 

The eponymous debut album of a short-lived UK group, Tranquility, is sort of folky, Americana, proggy stuff with immaculate close harmony singing that CSN would have been proud of. The guitar playing is tight and on the right side of noodly, the rhythm section is bang on and the driving organ underneath gives it all a sense of epicness.

If Tranquility were released in the late 60s, rather than early 70s, it might have done very well. But it got caught between changing musical times and tastes. Everyone had come down from the Summer of Love, the economy was shot to pieces and people were looking for a different, grittier type of escapism. While Bowie was giving birth to glam and Sabbath were inventing doom metal, Tranquility were still making gorgeous songs that talked about love and gratitude and nature. Post decimal UK was more interested in sequins, space and Satan.

Now, not every song on the album is a winner; a couple of the songs on Side Two stray into the sort of music hall nonsense that The Beatles and every other UK band in 1968 were peddling. But, the main songwriter and lead guitarist Terry Shaddick hits much more than he misses. 

And that brings us on to the musicians – who are they? There is no wikipedia entry for the band and no information on the usual sources such as Allmusic. A bit of digging shows most of the players disappeared into obscurity, but Terry Shaddick did re-emerge in the 1980s as a professional songwriter, penning – of all things – Physical by Olivia Newton John. Which is weirdly great.

You can pick up the original Tranquility LP on Discogs for less than a tenner. Or you can listen to it on YouTube if you “want to get digital, digital”. [Ed: Complaints about Dad jokes to @moonbolt please.] Either way, it is perfect Sunday listening and a complete joy to have picked up on a whim. 

Feel free to drop us a line with any similar Unspun Hero recommendations, or add to our playlist which you can find out more about here.

Editor’s note
After a little more digging, it turns out Tranquility were put together by Donovan’s former manager, Ashley Kozak. They were held in high esteem in the US, so much so that when they toured in support of their debut they booked an additional two months’ worth of dates!

Also, it turns out that Physical was originally penned for Rod Stewart.