Alastair Riddell & Space Waltz (1975)

A very young Alastair Riddell

Alastair Riddell started as a member of Original Sun with his brother Ron in the late sixties, with whom he went from a John Mayall oriented blues to a more Cream and Hendrix psychedelic scented one.

In 1971, when he was studying anthropology at the University of Auckland, he met keyboardist Tony Rayner and drummer Paul Crowther (the creator of the legendary Hot Cake overdrive) and, with the addition of guitarist Paul Wilkinson and bassist Peter Kershaw (also formerly of Original Sun), they formed a group called Orb.

Orb was a band that offered a repertoire of Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and David Bowie, with the addition of some original songs. The Orbs were of the post-hippy school, artists determined to adhere to the values ​​of the Love Generation but extremely concerned not to make the same mistakes. Very serious and scrupulous guys, completely free from hedonism.

The Orb project was in step with the times and the students from Auckland followed them but it was not enough to support the group. They lasted until 1973, one of the few synth bands in Zealand, with Riddell playing a synthesizer built by electronics wizard Paul Crowther.

Both Rayner and Riddell were confident in the band’s abilities and wanted to take it to Britain but the other guys weren’t prepared to take the risk of failure, so after their performance at the 1973 Ngaruawahia Music Festival, Orb disbanded.

And while Alastair Riddell later rose to national fame a few years later as the leader of the Space Waltz. Rayner, Crowther and Wilkinson all became members of Split Enz.

And here we are at the part where Riddell brings together his friend Eddie Rayner with Greg Clark, Peter Cuddihy, Brent Eccles and the Yandall Sisters and gives birth to the guest album of this article, that concentrate on glam, progressive emotions and intimist atmospheres going under the name of Space Waltz.

At that time Roxy Music, Mark Bolan and David Bowie were a source of particular inspiration for the musicians and young people of the period, it was quite logical that those with commercial aims would think well of marrying business with pleasure and here is the birth of Space Waltz, at the sign of a flashy glam but at the same time enclosing a particular interiority that winds through blues, soul, rock’n’roll, psychedelia to arrive at a ballad so emotional that give you goosebumps.

It makes me think of Alastair Riddell as a New Zealand brother of Alex Chilton: an artist who manages to admirably link deep intelligence and emotionality to music that is melodically and commercially captivating, catchy.

The Space Waltz album

Side one opens with “Fraulein Love”, a perfect Roxy-style opening for the album; a strong and overwhelming rocker, a great chorus full of heavy breathing and some excellent guitar licks are the basis of a song in the Ferry style and Riddell makes no secret of it (“Here I say ‘ta’ to Bryan” writes next to the title in the lyrics sheet).

It continues with “Beautiful Boy”, a great commercial and cute piece to capture the ears of the average listener, perhaps nothing striking but his “dirty work” does it well.

And when you think you are in front of “just another” good glam record of the time, suddenly and unexpectedly “Seabird”, the album’s masterpiece, appears. An impressive ballad, which begins with solid drumming before Tony Raynor’s piano and mellotron enter (Raynor was already the keyboard wizard of Split Enz at the time).
The song ends slackening with the rhythm of the drums again and the mellotron choir.
Extremely beautiful.

Side one closes with the shouted “Watch out young love!” of the group’s hit, ‘Out on the Street’, in a different version than the single, especially on the chorus.

Side 2 opens with ‘Angel’ which is practically an intimate hard glam number with a strong taste of progressive rock.

The song itself is amazing and very dramatic and when launched at high volume it almost has an adrenaline-pumping call to Captain Beyond’s “Raging River Of Fear”.

‘Open Up’ follows, it’s a nice piece with a Ziggy flavor. Introduced by the guitar solo that leans on piano arpeggios, it is then made strong by the Mellotron that accompanies us in the chorus of the chorus and, through the bridge, to the finale.

Then we come to the nice catchy and compact rock of ‘Scars of Love which unfolds through a nice guitar phrase and solid drums with a cowbell. Strongly inspired by “Queen Bitch” and “Suffragette City”, however, it is much more articulate, enthusiastic and lively.

“And Up to Now” is another nice glam song, hard but rather cheerful this time and Raynor’s beautiful organ solo makes it even more brilliant. Very beautiful while being catchy.

The album ends with “Love the Way he Smiles”, a strange amazing suite with the psychedelic soul choir of the Yandall Sisters against a background of cheering crowd voices and an extremely nervous work by Raynor on the piano.

To be a record strongly inspired by Bowie’s glam (in turn eternal “inspired” by the work of many others, particularly Roxy Music), I would say that in many points it surpasses it clearly and the writing quality is definitely superior.

Riddell’s lyrics seem very urban in content and the music reinforces this impression. Hard, sometimes really deep in content, and some others they deal with themes similar to some of Bowie’s pieces.

All in all, it’s a really brilliant debut. The only regret is the recording quality and that can be blamed on the EMI.

A real shame, for a record that is a milestone in Zeeland music and beyond and that was played with skill and passion by the band.

Space Waltz, sharing bassist and keyboardist with Split Enz, often played live together and Riddell was asked twice to replace their guitarists but he always refused and eventually the place was taken by Neil Finn.

After Space Waltz, Riddell adopted an elegantly sober style, moved to Los Angeles and Great Britain, returned home and left again for Great Britain, returned in ’89 with his beautiful wife Vanessa, continued to make music and began his career in cinema as a film director too.

Now Riddell, drummer Brent Eccles, Chunn and Rayner – the original tour lineup – have reformed for a gig.

And Alastair told us that a new single from Space Waltz will be released in the next few weeks.

Side 1

1. Fraulein Love
2. Beautiful Boy
3. Seabird
4. Out On The Street

Side 2

1. Angel
2. Open Up
3. Scars Of Love
4. And Up To Now
5. Love The Way He Smiles

Produced by Alan Galbraith