''Lucky Leif and the Longships'' is a 1975 record album by

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind. Early life ...

, produced by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

. It is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

dealing with how American culture might have been different had the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

managed to colonise the continent. The album is a tour through various styles of American music ("The Lay of the Surfers" is a

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

parody), filled with references to modern American culture and ancient Norse myths and legends. The album was re-released in the late 1990s by BGO Records.

Track listing

All songs by

; arranged by Robert Calvert and Paul Rudolph # "Ship of Fools" # "The Lay of the Surfers" # "Voyaging to Vinland" # "The Making of Midgard" # "Brave New World" # "Magical Potion" # "Moonshine in the Mountains" # "Storm Chant of the Skraelings" # "Volstead O Vodeo Do" # "Phase Locked Loop" # "Ragna Rock"

Bonus tracks

# "Howzat!" # "Cricket Lovely Reggae (Cricket Star)"

Personnel

*Robert Calvert - vocals, trumpet, piano, harmonica * Andy Roberts - organ, guitars, backing vocals * Paul Fraser Rudolph - guitars, bass guitar, backing vocals *

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

- banjo *

Simon House Simon House (born 29 August 1948 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) is a British composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. Career Before his time with Ha ...

- violin *

Nik Turner Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician, best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, T ...

- saxophone *Sal Maida - bass guitar *Brian Turrington - bass guitar & piano *Mike Nicholls - drums, percussion ;Technical *

- producer, synthesizer *

Rhett Davies Rhett Davies (born 1949 in London) is an English record producer and engineer. Davies' father was trumpet player Ray Davies (no relation to Ray Davies of The Kinks). Davies became a studio engineer at Island Records studios in the early 1970s, a ...

- engineer *Guy Bidford, Robert Ash, Sid Bucknor - assistant engineers *Tony Hyde - illustration Audio CD Remasterer: Paschal Byrne

References

External links

''Lucky Leif and the Longships'' on Amazon.com
1975 albums Concept albums Robert Calvert albums Albums produced by Brian Eno United Artists Records albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub