Ship of Fools L SD2

Fantasy obsessed and deep into the neoprog scene of the early 90s, few bands were as selfconsciously weird and engaging as Ship of Fools. Formed in 1992, the band consisted of guitarist Andy Banks, the creatively nicknamed bassist Sputnik, keyboardists Damien Clarke and Les Smith, and drummer Mick Reed. Friendly with the heads of the Dreamtime label, an offshoot of heavy metal distributors Peaceville, the band eventually signed with them and became the premiere psychedelic eccentrics on the label. Offering two albums in their lifetime, 1993 s Close Your Eyes, Forget the World and 1994 s Out There Somewhere, the band was a highly experimental force of mindaltering music until they broke up in a haze of bad feelings and musical differences in 1996. Leaving behind a short but excellent catalog of material, Smith (who had gone on to join the decidedly unpsychedelic black metal phenomenon Cradle of Filth) compiled their music and in 2002 released Let s Get This Mother O