Second Hand
Death May Be Your Santa Claus

We are in 1971 and Second Hand release their second work: Death May Be Your Santa Claus.
Compared to their debut album - Reality from 1968 - Rob Elliott (brother of Ken), George Hart, and Moggy Meat join the lineup, the latter replacing the departures of Bob Gibson (guitar) and Nick South (bass).
The group thus composed churns out a series of original compositions that mix Zappa-like hints with vocal inflections reminiscent of Kevin Ayers, all blended with a pinch of Arthur Brown and The Crazy World; it's an album where Elliott's electronic keyboards prevail, traveling over a fabric of odd times, slowed voices, symphonic moments, and accelerations - decelerations.

The suspicion that it is not an easy listen, but intriguing, is immediately confirmed after just a few seconds of the title track: a track in constant inconsistent movement only to bring back memories of certain Morriconian sensations: the start of "Bangin' On A Eyelid"; other moments, instead, resurrect Johann Sebastian Bach's organ compositions ("Cyclops" and "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi").
Between these two tracks, we find true gems: the drumming and keyboard progression, with a voice on the brink of delirium, in "Lucifer And The Egg"; the blues suitable for our nightmares (not just nocturnal) in "Somethin' You Got" which suddenly transforms into a friendly excursion, with the whole family, with strong doses of lysergic acid ("Dip It Out Of The Bog Fred").
The concluding part of the album is mostly instrumental with apocalyptic and futuristic tones; it goes from a possible atmosphere of the third millennium on Mars - "Revelation Ch. 16, Vs. 9-12" - to a frantic progression ("Takes To The Skies") that brings us back to the starting point with the voice reworking the leitmotif of the title track, only to make us fall into a bottomless instrumental well: "Death May Be Your Santa Claus (Reprise)".
After the fall and the shattering on the ground, Second Hand invite us to a superb funeral march ("Funeral") - which closes the album - offering us their most melodic aspect.

It's hard to find weaknesses: one of the masterpieces of English progressive rock: it's a shame that for Second Hand it's their last album, although, some voices (or legend?) claim that the group later created a new project under the name Chilum.
Simply a masterpiece.