Dawn
Get Ready
Saffron Dormouse And Lizzy Bee
Harlequin Hare
Old Blind Mole
Magician Moth
No Solution
Behind The Smile
Fly Away
Aranea
Sitting In A Dream
Waiting
Sir Maximus Mouse
Dreams Of Sir Bedivere
Together Again
Watch Out For The Bat
Little Chalk Blue
The Feast
Love is All
Homeward
A touchstone that will be part of any halfway-comprehensive 70s vinyl collection, Roger Glover’s pastoral rock opera/concept album The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper’s Feast has a relatively convoluted back story.
William Roscoe’s early-19th-century children’s poem of the same name piqued the imagination of the British psychedelic artist de jour Alan Aldridge, still riding high in both profile and popularity with the success of his two-volume The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics. Aldridge and writer William Plover then collaborated on a full-length book of the poem (1973) which won children’s book of the year, and sold a shitload.
Eschewing any moral guidance and featuring an anthropomorphised cast of bugs and animals in a setting not entirely dissimilar to The Wind In The Willows, its appeal to the psychedelically inclined was writ large, and was an obvious contender for the rock concept treatment. After both Pink Floyd and Jon Lord passed, a newly unemployed Roger Glover took up the challenge, and the resulting album showed a breadth of songwriting previously buried within Deep Purple’s parameters.
Veering from dramatic whimsy to chamber pop and prog, all shot through with a stage musical sensibility, notes of Peter Hammill, Hair the musical, Elton John, Camel and Caravan can all be detected. Glover was aided and abetted by a cast of famous friends including David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, and a pre-Rainbow Ronnie James Dio.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in October 1975
- Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention with Captain Beefheart - Bongo Fury
- The Who - The Who Ny Numbers
- Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
- Elton John - Rock Of The Westies
- John Lennon - Shaved Fish
- Roxy Music - Siren
- Rory Gallagher - Against The Grain
- Van de Graaf Generator - Godbluff
- Sparks - Indiscreet
- Dr Feelgood - Malpractice
- Focus - Mother Focus
- Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner
- Iron Butterfly - Sun And Steel
- Deep Purple - Come Taste The Band
- Kingdom Come - Kingdom Come
What they said...
"Highlights leap out from across the platter, with the macabre Old Blind Mole and the positively buoyant Love Is All the twin extremes around which the action revolves. Gustafson's hard rock Watch Out For The Bat, meanwhile, must surely have induced nightmares within the album's younger fans, while Dio's closing Homeward all but predicts the course of arena rock during the '80s. (AllMusic)
"It’s very much a child of its time, at the same time as positively refusing to recognize its creator’s reputation. Indeed, one still recalls the wails of dismay from large segments of the Deep Purple fan club as Glenn Hughes declared Get Ready, David Coverdale peeked Behind The Smile, and Dio… who would soon be forming Rainbow with Ritchie Blackmore… took the role of a singing frog." (Goldmine)
"With most of the twenty tracks featuring a singer taking on the role of one of the animals from the book (where British countryside beasts put their differences aside to attend The Butterfly Ball), there's no denying that it all sounds like it should have been a recipe for embarrassing disaster. However, Glover masterfully straddled the territory between kid's book and rock star cool by writing songs that actually fell into neither bracket." (Sea Of Tranquility)
What you said...
Greg Schwepe: So, this one was interesting. And I did listen to the whole thing! Wasn’t even a chore to do so really. Whimsical vibe to it at times. Kind of an odd little album project for this group of rock stars.
The funny thing is that the songs kept me engaged. Totally had this vibe that it was part of a story and you kind of felt like you were going through each chapter with the various characters. Go figure!
Had I ever even heard of this before this week? Nope. Did I think I wasted my time listening and reviewing this. Nope. Will I listen again? Well, probably not!
7 out of 10 on this one for me. That Roger Glover, a man of many hats, or head scarves.
Henry Martinez: This has the feel of a side project with lots of positive intent but lacking true cohesion. Having so many different vocalists is quite tricky, although it's interesting to hear Dio, Coverdale and Hughes sing outside of their normal lanes. Just not one I'd revisit often, if at all. (3.0)
Gary Claydon: Ah, the weird, wacky and sometimes woeful world of '70s concept/theme albums. There always seemed to be a new one just round the corner and there were some pretty stellar names involved in some of them. How many made any lasting impressions, though?
War Of The Worlds has stood the test of time, but apart from that?
Robert Calvert's ode to a jinxed jet-fighter, Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters was a personal favourite, with contributions from various Hawkwind alumni (including Lemmy), Eno and Arthur Brown, among others. How about Flash Fearless vs.The Zorg Women Parts 5&6 featuring the likes of Alice Cooper, Jim Dandy, Elkie Brooks, half of The Who and many more. Or the (quite decent) prog rock take on Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf which included Gary Moore, Alvin Lee, Cozy Powell, Eno (again) among the cast of dozens?
There are many more, but where does Roger Glover's The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast fit in this wonderfully bonkers world?
Good-natured pop-rock is the kindest description I can come up with. As with most of the others of its ilk, it's very much of its time. Coverdale's turn on Behind The Smile is mildly diverting, as are the RJD vehicles Sitting In A Dream and the Beatles-influenced Love Is All, which was a big hit in mainland Europe, especially The Netherlands. The rest is fairly forgettable. There was a remastered box set from a few years ago, which, for some reason, was loaned to me. It didn't change my opinion but did contain some rarities and an interesting booklet penned by Malcolm Dome.
All-in-all, a quirky curiosity, but very far from essential.
Chris Elliott: A historical curiosity, and it really should stay there. It flopped universally for a reason. The only nice thing I can say is that it made me nostalgic for Captain Beaky.
Mike Canoe: Roger Glover is one talented dude. Sure, by 1974 he had already proven himself as one of hard rock's great bass players through his work with Deep Purple and he already had several production and songwriter credits under his belt, but The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast ably demonstrated that he could do all that and then some.
One of those many skills was scouting great talent. While Ronnie James Dio, Glenn Hughes, and David Coverdale are well-known now, they were all far less so when this album came out. Either way, those three are just a fraction of the many great singers on this album, not to mention the talented musicians in the band.
I once read a review of the musical Cats that said the plot was essentially cats introducing themselves to each other. I get a similar vibe from Butterfly Ball. You need a pretty high tolerance for whimsy and stage musicals to make it through these many songs and, fortunately, I do and the pageantry doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the album. Almost every song promises a new singer, cool instrumentation, and new musical style, or all of the above.
As enjoyable as it is, this album seems to be a footnote in the careers of everyone involved, including Roger Glover. I'm glad I got to spend the week with it.
Philip Qvist: I can only imagine how the conversation went when Roger Glover reached out to his connections - "Hi, it's Roger here, do you fancy appearing on a concept album based on a children's poem from the early 1800s - it's called the The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast?" "Nice try, but seriously who is this on the line, it can't be the Roger I know."
Jokes aside, I actually enjoyed this concept record, even if my only exposure to it was the Love Is All single from this record. It won't be on my must-listen-to-again list, but it was entertaining listening to the singers putting their own personality on the characters, albeit if their appearances were (too) brief.
For sure, it is Roger Glover's project, but I must also give credit to Ronnie James Dio, who co-wrote and sang on three tracks, and Eddie Hardin, who co-wrote three tracks, sang lead on one song and also played keyboards on the album.
Not an essential record, but entertaining and fun - somewhere between a 6 and a 7 from me.
John Burton: I remember getting this - and loving it - in 1976!
Adam Ranger: I saw this was a concept album based on a children's poem and my heart sank a bit, if I'm honest. But I went in with an open mind.
Overall impression is that it's a bit fragmented. All the "characters" get their own bit, and that is the issue for me. It's a "bit" before the next character comes in with a totally different style. And, as many of the characters only have around 1.5 minutes, it jars a bit to my ears.
It's like the school music project where the music teacher demonstrates different styles for different things. All well done, I guess, it's just not easy to listen to on an album.
There are a couple of nice longer tunes. Love Is All, Sitting In A Dream and my favourite Little Chalk Blue.
Funny hearing Coverdale's bluesy voice and style overlaid by totally (to my ears) mismatched backing on Behind the Smile.
A great bit of cover art, too. But, all in all, I won't be listening to this again.
Graham Tarry: This is a pure delight from beginning to end! Not what you’d expect given the musicians involved, but full of top melodies, and daft lyrics! Got it when it came out in 74, and still cherish it, especially the gatefold sleeve.
Andy Walker: This is a great album. I also like the other all-star album that Roger Glover put together, Wizard's Convention.
John Davidson: In the late 70s early 80s the UK magazine Sounds used to do family trees of major artists, including the bands and side projects. It was a good way (pre-internet) of finding out about things you'd never have heard of.
Also, our local library had a reasonably good LP section, so as a Deep Purple fan at the age of 16, I made a point of seeking out as much as I could. Among the obvious Gillan, Blackmore and Coverdale offerings there was Paice Ashton Lord and this oddity.
Butterfly Ball was too strange for my teenage brain. It wasn't like Tales from Topographic Oceans, but more reminiscent of War Of The Worlds with its first singers and odd characters.
But the oddness of the story /poem is matched by the eclectic songwriting and instrumentation. For all the talent on board, it doesn't really rock and there's not a tune I could get behind, sadly. A 3 for me.
Final score: 7.08 (49 votes cast, total score 437)
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