Author Archive

Margo Guryan “Take a Picture”

| Pop,Psych,Sunshine

Take A Picture

Story goes: when Margo heard “God Only Knows” for the first time, she dropped everything. Steeped in jazz and composition, Pet Sounds was just what she wanted to hear. Inspired, and working in the glow of Brian’s masterpiece, Margo began work on “Take A Picture.”

The first thing to notice is Margo’s voice, a unique upper register whisper. Sunday Morning sounds like a garage funk band with studio rat talent. The album’s production is wonderful in that it is so expert, but never showy.

A sunday morning staple. It’s jazz, slightly psych pop, with all the ornaments of the Pet Sounds orchestra. A brilliant record, and I must also recommend the (almost more) wonderful 25 Demos as well.

“Take A Picture”

[ Buy from Amazon | iTunes ]

Frank Zappa “We’re Only In It For The Money”

| Art,Concept Albums,Pop,Psych

We're Only In It For The Money

Not everybody has the time and/or interest to invest in collecting the entire Frank Zappa discography, but if you are interested in rock music enough to be here, reading this, you need to at least acquaint yourself with this album.

The original album cover shown above really says it all. For The Money is Zappa’s thesis statement on the music culture surrounding him during the summer of love. It goes something like this: “every town must have a place where phony hippies meet, psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street.”

Yet, when I listen to this album, I don’t hear biting, social satire, as so many reviewers will mention. Yes it’s there, but how can I concentrate on the lyrics when there is a such an astounding musical arrangement. Zappa’s mastery of the studio is evident in every millisecond of sound; drum toms, orchestral instrumentation, clean treble guitar chords and melodies, sped up vocals, saxophone fills, and affected tape samples combine to create an unimaginable, indescribable sound.

The record is a fantastic journey and I never get tired of taking it. It’s funny too, after a few listens, once you start to get used to FZ’s humor. It is important to remember that Frank Zappa was a classical composer that merely used the pop music of the day to paint his own picture. He was an accomplished genius whose hardest drug was a cigarette. All of his work is superb, though the early Mothers stuff is the best, and this one is cream of the crop, unlike any other.

“Who Needs The Peace Corps”

[ Buy from Amazon ]

The Flatlanders “More a Legend Than a Band”

| Country Rock

More A Legend Than A Band

This became my favorite new record in under a full day. Normally, we are looking at albums that we’ve sat with, kinda know inside out, but this is an emergency. It’s been an evil secret that nobody told me about this one sooner.

Originally released in 1972, and only available on 8-track cassette until 1990, when it was finally put out on CD- just in time for the alt-country kids to scoop it up- this is a perfect country album. If you’ve ever detected a note of irony when the Byrds put their cowboy hearts on for Sweetheart, this is the record to set you straight. The real deal (and you know because it’s on Rounder).

It’s hard to describe what it is about the sweet spot this record hits, but here’s a shot: The Flatlanders match an electric sound with acoustic, bluegrass instrumentation (sans banjo). They play in an old-timey (lazy fiddle) way with a swing in their step, and add a nice psych touch with the musical saw (imagine a tasteful theremin adding hints of accompaniment on about half the record). Jimmie Dale’s singing is A+ number one and the harmony is also great. Oh and listen to that fine dobro work on Stars In My Life.

Or look at it this way: 13 great new songs to love, a beautiful forgotten classic for your shelves, and a serious contender for Sweetheart of the Rodeo’s coveted country-rock trophy spot. Yes, it’s the newest record in my collection, but I think I would grab for it first on my way to the island.

“Jole Blon”

[ Buy from Amazon ]

Traffic “Mr. Fantasy”

| Art,Pop,Psych

Mr. Fantasy

Bookending the mega radio hit, Dear Mr. Fantasy, are the wild and varied sonic experiences that comprise this classic psych record: Traffic’s debut, Mr. Fantasy.

Stevie Winwood was a prodigy with one of the great mellow rock voices and some crazy organ skills; by age 15 he was singing with The Spencer Davis Group and by age 20 he was playing with Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix, but before that he joined up with Dave Mason to create this short-lived supergroup and they kicked it off with a most interesting bang.

On Mr. Fantasy, we get a little something for everyone: a campy british melody here; a driving drum kit there, horns, strings, and sitars, some weirdo dialog bits, experimental audio collage, and some absolutely must-hear beautiful songs in No Face, No Name, No Number, Coloured Rain, and my personal favorite, Heaven Is In Your Mind.

Tunes like Giving To You and House For Everyone may present a challenge for the less psych-minded among us but not very much. The great thing about Mr. Fantasy is that it’s both adventurously catchy and accessibly far out. I know this for sure, as I spent night-after-middle-school-night soaking this record in with my young, impressionable, untrained Led Zeppelin and Doors loving ears.

And thankfully, no 20-minute On The Road style Traffic jams! Got to give it up for this classic gem! You rule Stevie!

“Heaven Is In Your Mind”

[ Buy from Amazon | iTunes ]

The Beau Brummels “Triangle”

| Country Rock,Folk,Pop

Triangle

The Beau Brummels hit it big in the early 60s with their hits “Laugh Laugh” and “Just A Little” which were produced by Sly of the Family Stone. As English as they tried to appear, they were an American rock band hailing from San Fransisco.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out their early material, especially a record called From The Vaults, but it’s their adventurous and refreshing 1967 Triangle that steals the show. Sal Valentino is the voice of the Brummels, a vox of raw power and vibrato, certainly a highly unique voice that matches an almost unclassifiable and surprising album. Triangle has everything: it’s a tightly produced country record that is rooted in rock; it’s straight and folky and underlined by psychedelic imagery.

The production always drew me in on these records. By records, I mean, if you like this one, you’re in luck because there’s also Bradley’s Barn, a sequel of sorts to Triangle that was recorded in Nashville with some exceptional picking and production. Sometimes modern music can sound over produced – Bradley’s Barn and Triangle are like that, but in an inviting, interesting way, rather than a glossy, manufactured way.

Merle Travis’ “Nine Pound Hammer” is masterfully covered on this record, the most inventive version I’ve heard and one that always catches bluegrass audiences by surprise. Songs like the excellent “Magic Hollow,” “The Wolf of Velvet Fortune,” and “Painter of Women” are songs you’ll never hear anywhere near a record deemed “country.” Other’s, like Randy Newman’s “Old Kentucky Home” and “Are You Happy?” are straight up good timers.

Pick this one up, it may take a little getting used to, but it’s well worth it. The Beau Brummels are a seriously underrated treasure. Note to Beau Brummel fans: you’ll be wanting this.

“The Keeper Of Time”

[ Buy from Amazon | iTunes ]

Montage (self-titled)

| Baroque,Pop,Sunshine

Montage

Michael Brown, though not credited, is the man behind this strange, beautiful album. His work with The Left Banke will go unmentioned for this review, as we will certainly revisit it later. But if you don’t know the Left Banke, think The Zombies gone classical, replacing the Fender Rhodes with a harpsichord.

And if you don’t know Montage, think The Left Banke gone Zombies, though a year or three later, replacing the harpsichord with a bass-driven rhythm section and confident grand piano. Though we have all the chamber elements in place; each song is adequately ornamented with winds, strings and brass when needed, though never when not. What differs from the Banke is a seemingly more progressive sound, certainly a step beyond their great first accomplishments, but one that could go no further.

These songs will surprise you: the haunting She’s Alone, the unbelievable “off-note” that tunes you in to the message of Men Are Building Sand, a Left Banke leftover actually, along with Desiree, a major highlight on this disc, and even better than its original counterpart.

Best of all, The Song is Love, a lite pop master stroke: it’s awesome.

“The Song Is Love”

[ CD / Bonus Tracks / Sundazed ]

****************************************************************

The Left Banke “Desiree”

Montage “Desiree”

The Beach Boys “Smiley Smile”

| Pop,Psych,Sunshine

Smiley Smile

I remember, the first day I bought this album, I couldn’t listen to it right away, I was at a party for something. But I clutched it and stared at it all night, because I knew I had something special in my hands.

And I did. Smiley Smile usually gets the cold shoulder because it wasn’t Smile, Brian’s “teenage symphony to God” that never materialized (oh, but it did a year or so ago). However, if you would like to care more about what Smiley Smile is rather than what it is not, I think you are going to find yourself a great introduction to that side of The Beach Boys you may not have yet heard but were always wondering about.

Opening with the fantastic and complex Heroes and Villains, with uncharacteristic (for the Boys at least) lyrics penned by Van Dyke Parks, Smiley Smile is a real trip. This album follows Pet Sounds in the discography, so we have the creative remnants showing in arrangements and orchestration, but this time much toned down. Smiley Smile is a scarce and subtly produced record employing sound effects, laughter + dialogue, great percussion sounds, very basic instrumentation, and all throughout those marvelous Beach Boy voices shine as the lead instruments.

Of all the Boys records, this is by far the most psychedelic. Carl Wilson reported that a clinic in Fort Worth played it for their patients, their sole method in helping them out of bad LSD trips (see here, actually all the quotes make a great read). Some parts are a little over the top, as in She’s Goin’ Bald, but usually contain a great payoff. Plus, you’ll get the monstrous #1 hit Good Vibrations, and in the bonus tracks a revealing look at all the hard work that went into its development in three separate takes of the powerhouse track. Also in the bonus: the amazing Can’t Wait Too Long – this long study has a great feel and builds towards 25 seconds of one of my favorite Beach Boys instrumental moments.

Plus, with Capitol making available the entire Boys catalog in two-fer packages, you can’t pass this one up. Smiley Smile is packaged with Wild Honey, a Beach Boys-gone-soul record that I would love to talk more about. For under $10 it’s a no-brainer. Grab this record, and if you haven’t already, let this summer be your Beach Boys summer, you’ll never forget it!

“Fall Breaks And Back To Winter”

Remastered / Extra Tracks/plus Wild Honey!

The Bonzo Dog Band “Cornology”

| Art,Concept Albums,Pop,Psych

Cornology

If you are a fan of British humor, Monty Python, John Cleese & Fawlty Towers and all that stuff, than I highly highly highly highly highly highly highly highly HIGHLY highly highly highly highly recommend recommend. I’ll repeat that, highly recommend that you check out THE BONZO DOG BAND.

It’s the subtlety, I think, that makes these bits of dialogue, silly orchestrations, and bizarre lyrics and song topics so growingly hilarious. It’s better with each listen, and I can’t recommend recommend enough that you try this one out on a road trip (where more than one person is actually listening intently to an album, for once). For, although the Bonzo music is incredibly rockingly satisfying, to fully appreciate the experience their discography requires your complete, complying, curfew-denying, centered and well-mentored concentric concentration.

Ok, well that’s enough of that. My attempt at wit just doesn’t find par with these vaudevillian joke meisters. But my point is, we don’t just have humor here. The Monty Python albums, uproarious as they are, don’t suit casual, real-life listening. The Bonzo albums on the other hand, hilarious as they can indeed be, will fail to spoil the delicate hipness of your careful being. Though the mp3 below is a classic, it was hard to choose one, as these tunes vary between brilliantly witty, insanely catchy, and psychedelically rocking.

If you have read this far, then I recommend you just dive in deep and purchase the 3-CD boxset, Cornology. You’ll get everything you need from the band who so luckily pulled off a guest spot in The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour movie performing a song that modern wonder group Death Cab For Cutie payed tribute to, borrowing its title for their bandname.

“My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe”

3 CD Set Import, (check out the used&new prices)

Moby Grape “Moby Grape”

| Country Rock,Folk,Pop,Psych

Moby Grape

Moby Grape’s debut encapsulates the frantic power and inspired genius of the group in the brief moment that it existed. All members contributed songs to this explosive record, giving each song a fresh feel within the triple-guitar rock/country/psych Grape sound. The songs are quick, great, and perfect illustrators of the San Fransisco sound from whence they came.

The problem is, things practically fell apart for the Grape after their debut record; it’s widely reported that the talents of this great, legendary band fell prey to mismanagement. If the Jefferson Airplane were today’s “Strokes,” then Moby Grape were “The Vines” or “Jet” or whatever over-hyped carbon copy band the music industry could get on the shelves in the wake of the former. Their record company released five singles at once, trying to stir up an artificial demand. Worst of all, the mismanagement continues today with the Moby Grape name being held hostage by some guy named Matthew Katz (hence, the still exorbitant CD price). The 2007 reissue of this record from Sundazed has been halted as well, producing a stilted run of 180G vinyl lps that are going for hefty prices on ebay.

Following the recording of this record, frontman Skip Spence lost it Syd Barrett style and took an axe with him on a short rampage at his band member’s hotel before being committed to Bellevue Hospital. After his release, he would take off on his motorcycle, equipped in pajamas rather than leather jacket, on the way to record his magnificent, and only solo album, Oar.

But despite these unfortunate circumstances, Moby Grape’s eponymous debut remains well respected as one of the best albums of the psychedelic era, its sound still holding up extremely well. In fact, you may have even heard the sometimes classic rock radio-worthy Omaha. And while this powerful debut may be one of the best rock records of all time, the Grape managed to reinstate its spirit in moments over several more excellent albums during their frenzied life span.

“Fall On You”

[ Reissue @ Amazon ]

The Can “Monster Movie”

| Art,Prog,Psych

Monster Movie

Few bands have had such an influence on modern underground and electronic music as krautrock heroes The Can, subsequently named just Can.

The Can today is most revered with their album Tago Mago, which perfectly showcases their hypnotizing, improvised (then edited) garage rock jams. Before japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki joined the group, however, The Can released their debut record featuring Malcolm Mooney as lead singer, and it’s a beast!

The first three songs on this album echo the psychedelic and garage scene that The Can came from. Unlike subsequent albums, you can hear a bit of a pop song format squeaking through on these excellent psych gems. The real heart of this album, though, is the epic track, Yoo Doo Right, apparently edited down from six hours of studio tape. It’s a beauty, with a laid-back and driving rhythm section, catchy bass, nutty drums, eery organ, and swirling guitar backing Mooney’s scream-tarnished voice. This song, more than the others, would foreshadow the Can to come.

If you haven’t heard The Can yet, you are in for a ride. Listen to this LOUD when you are in a panic! Their sound holds up remarkably well today, noobs will think this was recorded in 2005!

“Outside My Door”

Available as Hybrid SACD and Remastered