Alastair Riddell's Space Waltz (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781501389504)

Alastair Riddell's band Space Waltz was a short-lived one-album New Zealand rock act who hit gold with a #1 hit single in October 1974 with the song 'Out On The Street' but thereafter failed to achieve anything even close to that feat. While relegated to one-hit-wonder status in the eyes of many, to this day Riddell and Space Waltz epitomize the mid-1970s heyday of glam rock in New Zealand. But in truth their impact went far beyond this. Their generationally divisive nation-wide debut on the hugely popular MOR television talent quest Studio One/New Faces demonstrated the power of mass media exposure - they were instantly signed to a record deal with industry giant EMI - while Riddell's controversial gender-bending image provided a cultural crossroads that greatly impacted the wider youth culture of Aotearoa New Zealand. In addition, while the album's most famous track, 'Out On The Street, ' is rightly regarded as New Zealand's glam rock anthem, the wider album demonstrates a compositional and musical depth that goes far beyond glam rock and into the realm of sophisticated progressive rock, ultimately providing an unlikely and highly unique musical amalgam.

Author: Ian Chapman
ISBN-10: 1501389505
ISBN-13: 9781501389504
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 03/09/2023
Pages: 144
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.59lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.38d