Swedish actor, musician and record label owner (Stormvox) Peter Stormare (the silent, blonde kidnapper in the Coen Brother classic Fargo) has lifted the lid on a long-buried passion project, reissuing as he will be the entire back catalogue of obscure 70s psych-rockers Ramases.
Ramases, founded by Sheffield-born PE instructor Barrington Frost and his wife, Dorothy, will be brought back to life via a six-disc boxset that takes in the duo’s early singles of 1971’s Space Hymns to latter tracks of 1975’s groove-laden Glass Top Coffin, the title track of which can be heard below.
Despite the band’s otherworldly sound and high falutin’ name, Ramases’ 1968 inception was relatively humdrum. Frost was involved in a central heating job in Scotland, and there inexplicably took on the identity of the aforementioned Egyptian Pharaoh, of whom he believed himself to be the reincarnation.
In their early days, while recording in Strawberry Studios in Stockport, the duo were backed up by soon-to-be-members of 10cc. Later, Glass Top Coffin was recorded in London with hopes that it’d be a breakout album for the duo, but Barrington sadly died in 1976.
The band’s complete works will include never before heard bonus tracks, rarities, and remixes, as well as cover versions by modern-day acts such as Blonde From Fargo, Haroula Rose and Rocketboat.
"Dorthy and Barrington came to me with remarkable music in 1973, under the name Ramases," says Stormare about the music. "With the arrival of Space Hymns, I loved it and I lived it. Carrying the music within that shaped and molded me”.
