Industrial metal icons Ministry and former New Order bassist Peter Hook are among the artists reinventing the music of Captain Beyond on a new tribute album, Thousand Days of Yesterdays, out on 20 November.
The collection takes its name from a cut on Captain Beyond’s self-titled 1972 debut, and reworks 19 songs from the band’s landmark early albums. Thirteen of those tracks appear on blue vinyl, while the CD adds six bonus cuts, including two wildly distinctive versions of the signature “Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air)” from Hook and Ministry. The release is billed as confirmation of the progressive and hard rock legend’s place in American rock history.
Hook, who has been touring the Joy Division and New Order catalogue with Peter Hook and The Light, brought thousands together for an emotional rendition of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” during a headline Meadow Stage set at Bearded Theory earlier this year. Ministry, meanwhile, are riding high with their own upcoming album, Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery), due on 30 October via Cleopatra. Founder Al Jourgensen has called that record the band’s 17th and final studio album, with a farewell run to follow, including a final Los Angeles show planned for 30 October 2027.
Joining Ministry and Hook on the Captain Beyond tribute are Hawkwind maestro Nik Turner and Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson, alongside Pentagram, The Flower Kings, The Quill, Zello, Locomotive Breath, Rise And Shine, Standarte, Lotus, Five Fifteen, Orchid Leaves, ZoomlenZ, Qoph and Abramis Brama. The Swedish acts Qoph and Abramis Brama close the CD with “Dansar Galet Bakåt” and “Förtrollande Förmörkelse”.
Captain Beyond were a supergroup in the parlance of the day. Vocalist Rod Evans had fronted the original, “Hush”-era Deep Purple. Bassist Lee Dorman and guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt had flown with Iron Butterfly. Drummer Bobby Caldwell had most recently been sighted with the Johnny Winter Group. A few years before his death in 2023, Caldwell looked back on the late 1960s and early 1970s with something approaching disbelief, calling it an era when even the lowliest band felt the need to push boundaries.
“You had to be able to do something unique,” he said. “And the people who lose are the listeners. It’s the joy of listening to music that is missing today.” Recalling his jazz roots, he added: “As a kid I was into jazz, and I thought ‘wow, maybe if I could find the right people, I could do this, and I could create something that’s unpredictable, a little bit different to the norm, where you can’t tell where it’s going necessarily.”
The press notes argue that Captain Beyond never lost sight of excitement, even when the music became adventurous and experimental. “Back in the day, to repeat Caldwell’s comment, ‘You had to be able to do something unique!’ Thousand Days of Yesterday proves that uniqueness remains just as fresh today.”
The album is available to pre-order on CD and vinyl via Cleopatra, with the digital edition available here.
Track listing
- Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air) – Pentagram
- Armworth – Rise And Shine
- Myopic Void – Standarte
- Mesmerization Eclipse – Lotus, Brian Robertson
- Raging River Of Fear – Flower Kings
- Thousand Days Of Yesterdays (Intro) – The Quill
- Frozen Over – The Quill
- Thousand Days Of Yesterdays (Time Since Come And Gone) – Five Fifteen, Nik Turner
- I Can’t Feel Nothing, Pt. 1 – Locomotive Breath
- As The Moon Speaks (To The Waves Of The Sea) – Zello
- Astral Lady – Zello
- As The Moon Speaks (Return) – Zello
- I Can’t Feel Nothing, Pt. 2 – Locomotive Breath
- Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air) – Peter Hook (CD bonus track)
- Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air) – Ministry (CD bonus track)
- Starglow Energy – Orchid Leaves (CD bonus track)
- Sweet Dreams – ZoomlenZ (CD bonus track)
- Dansar Galet Bakåt – Qoph (CD bonus track)
- Förtrollande Förmörkelse – Abramis Brama (CD bonus track)
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