Archive for the ‘ Psych ’ Category

Earth Opera “Great American Eagle Tragedy”

| Art,Folk,Psych

Earth Opera was one of several groups to come out of the rather infamous Bosstown scene, a motley wave of rather disparate bands modeled on the highly successful San Francisco sound and pushed by MGM publicity man Alan Lorber. Despite being grouped together in marketing and subsequent rock and roll history, the only real common denominator among these groups is, well, Boston. Each band really did have its own unique sound and aesthetic, and each deserves to be looked at independent from the record company hype that clouded their reputations back in the late 1960s. Earth Opera, headed by future bluegrass pioneers David Grisman and Peter Rowan (who had already made something of a name for himself singing with Bill Monroe), gave testimony to this spirit of individuality when they released The Great American Eagle Tragedy in 1968.

The album opens with what could have been a killer single, Rowan’sHome To You. This song would later be re-recorded by Seatrain in the early 1970s, but the original recording is absolutely superior. Soaring harmonies and snaking steel guitar lines make this one probably the closest Earth Opera got to country rock, which, though eminently enjoyable, doesn’t quite prepare you for the weirdness to follow. Mad Lydia’s Waltz is a surreal and atmospheric sketch of a woman heading down a cobblestone alley to meet her lover. The lyrics and trilling mandolin almost draw the sound into the British folk rock territory of Fairport Convention, and Rowan’s keening vocals really do border on unsettling.

From there, the band skips through a myriad of sounds, from the rather pale, lightweight pop of Alfie Finney to the rollicking Sanctuary From the Law. Earth Opera has a well-defined sound, and their real talent is in exploring that sound from all possible angles. The end result is that every cut has its own distinct character, while at the same time working towards building a coherent whole. This whole comes together beautifully on the undeniable centerpiece to the record, the ten-and-a-half minute title track. The Great American Eagle Tragedy begins with the mournful wailing of saxophones, with the band eventually building into an explosive early climax and a brief bit of silence. Heavy drums draw the music back in and the band rumbles into a pounding anti-war anthem replete with free-jazz fuzz guitars, whistling flute improvisations and some of the most intense vocal screaming I’ve heard on a 1960s recording. To be perfectly honest, experiencing this song may be worth the price of the album alone.

It’s hard to imagine what could possibly follow The Great American Eagle Tragedy, but somehow the band clears the hurdle by throwing in an undeniably catchy rocker that somehow manages to compare love to a roast beef sandwich against a backdrop of mangled guitars. It may sound ridiculous, but this is one you’ll be humming to yourself long after the needle’s been lifted. The tasteful production, courtesy of underground folk legend Peter Siegel, helps keep this gnarly tangle of instruments and sounds in order, and really does give the record just the right amount of fine-tuning it needs to succeed.

Earth Opera released a self-titled record before this one, which is rather different from its follow-up, but definitely solid. Both albums were reissued on compact disc by Wounded Bird Records in 2001, but it looks as though The Great American Eagle Tragedy has since gone out of print. Fortunately, you can find original copies of the album relatively cheap, and seeing as Edsel Records recently reissued it on vinyl, new copies aren’t that hard to snag.

“Home to You”

:D CD Reissue | 2001 | Wounded Bird | buy here ]
:) Vinyl |  1969 | Elektra | search ebay ]

Tiny Tim “God Bless Tiny Tim”

| Americana,Art,Baroque,Pop,Psych

Love him or hate him, there was no one else like Tiny Tim in the late 60’s.  John Lennon was reportedly a fan, and Tim was a staple on late night television of the time. In 1968 he released his debut album on Reprise- a blend of American popular songs and extreme weirdness that often veers into psychedelia.

God Bless Tiny Tim was promoted as a joke record, but beneath all the camp and novelty there are some stunning gems on this very musical album.

This is an early example of outsider music and Tim did exactly what he wanted here, aided with expert production by Richard Perry. Some moments recall the whimsy of Van Dyke Parks’ debut, or even that of Randy Newman’s first with dense dynamic orchestral arrangements supplementing a full band. Tracks like “Strawberry Tea” and “The Coming-Home Party” and the brilliant version of Irving Berlin’s “Stand Down Here Where You Belong” are completely straightforward pop songs and would have been coveted by any self respecting psych band of the era.

The creepiness of “Daddy Daddy, What is Heaven Like?” is overpowered by Tiny Tim’s sincerity. His knowledge of American musical tradition and dedication to music hall and vaudeville allow these songs to come to life in very satisfying ways. It’s somewhat prophetic that in 1968 Tim was singing “The ice caps are melting…”, and there is a definite vibe that Tim’s not only in on the joke, but is really the one laughing here (which he does hysterically at one point).

The between-song narration occasionally stifles the flow, but it gives us a little glimpse into Tiny Tim’s mindset- his intentions were clearly to open himself up to the world and put on a show; his tastes, interests, showmanship, and quirky personality are all clearly present here. It’s the perfect production and it’s Tiny Tim’s consistently entertaining performances that really elevate this record above mere musical comedy status.

God Bless Tiny Tim is available from Rhino Handmade as a single disc or the 2006 “God Bless Tiny Tim: The Complete Reprise Studio Masters . . . And More” box set.

“Strawberry Tea”

:D CD Reissue | 2008 | Rhino Handmade | buy here ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1968 | Reprise | search ebay ]
8-) Spotify link | listen ]

The Chocolate Watchband “The Inner Mystique”

| Garage,Psych

The infamous Chocolate Watch Band from San Jose California are the quintessential garage psyche band; their story is angst ridden and strange. Chocolate Watch Band, originally formed in 1965, went through a relatively complex series of personnel rearrangements settling for a short while on the lineup most familiar to fans consisting of Dave Aguilar, lead vocals and harmonica, Mark Loomis, lead git and keys, Bill Flores, bass, Sean Tolby, rhythm guitar and Gary Andrijasevich on drums. It was this incarnation that earned Chocolate Watch Band its reputation as an excellent live act by becoming known for their wildness and raw energy on stage. They were regularly gigging around the Bay Area with big groups such as the Doors and the Mothers of Invention playing mostly blues covers and tracks by obscure groups from the UK. Around this time in ’67 the band was introduced to the up-and-coming studio producer Ed Cobb. The band got their kicks by upstaging headliners with their forceful stage performance. They considered the recording studio an afterthought best left in the hands of Cobb.

Ed Cobb was to have a profound impact on the legacy of Chocolate Watch Band. He penned much of Chocolate Watch Band’s original material and enforced his vision of soft psychedelia on a band that he never bothered to see perform live, a fact that he has in later days openly regretted. It was because of this that the raw garage power of Chocolate Watch Band somehow eluded him, much to the group’s chagrin. There is a notorious story of the band using entire boxes of their second single as skeet pigeons because they detested the inclusion of Cobb’s gentle orchestral ballad “She Weaves a Tender Trap” on the B side; these boys were all nails and dog tails.

But boys grow up and it was the Summer of Love¦ under whose dubious charms Loomis departed to form a short lived psych-folk project “The Tingle Guild”. This was the beginning of a collapse for Chocolate Watch Band as one member after another left to pursue other interests just prior to the release of their first album No Way Out.

Cobb, however, was committed to the idea of Chocolate Watch Band and recruited a new lineup consisting of previous members Bill Flores on bass and Sean Tolby, now playing lead, and newbies Tim Abbott, rhythm, Mark Whittaker, drums and Chris Flinders singing. The ostensible purpose of this short lived incarnation was to support the hastily slapped together psychedelic era oddity that is The Inner Mystique.

Released in early ’68, the conundrum of The Inner Mystique is that not only was the band lineup at the time of the album’s release almost totally different than the band that recorded the psyche-rippers on the second side, but more stunningly, the music on the first side of the album was mostly recorded by studio musicians Cobb’d together [sic] that were never in Chocolate Watch Band. Far from a detriment, its schizophrenic dual personality makes the album more interesting in my mind.

Let’s take it one side at a time. The Inner Mystique kicks off with the psychedelic raga “Voyage of the Trieste”. Drenched in sitars, chimes, meandering flute, and jazz sax breaks, the cut is propelled by a repetitive fuzzy power-chord pulsing ‘m-e-l-l-o-w’. This cut is followed a soft sitar-psyche rendition of “In the Past” featuring Don Bennett singing. This shimmering and echoey number is impressive considering its strictly studio creature origins. The first side closes with the title track, another sitar ballad that is essentially a reprise of “Voyage of the Trieste”, albeit slower and darker in tone. Altogether this side of the album is a pleasant slice of gentle psychedelia, enjoyable, but without the power of the second side to rescue it from the otherwise probable obscurity that would be its fate.

Which brings us to the actual Chocolate Watch Band on the second side. Five songs, covers done better than the originals all, composed of out-takes from their first album No Way Out and a remixed and redubbed version of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” from CWB’s first single released in ’66. The first cut is a burning cover of “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” by the Kinks. Aguilar’s vocals simmer, coming to a rolling boil as he barks out the chorus in a punk brogue Ray Davies couldn’t have achieved. Bashing caveman drums and Fender Twins in overdrive, this is garage primitive at its best. It was at this point Cobb committed a cardinal sin – he removed the original and far superior vocals of Aguilar on the next two tracks, “Medication” and “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” and dubbed in Bennett’s vocals which range from unexceptional on the former to painful on the latter. Despite the mediocre vocals, these tracks still cook. The Dylan cover is excellent although the original 45 version is better as the album cut suffers from Cobb’s affinity for superfluous meandering flute overdubs. The album closes out with the wailing “I Ain’t No Miracle Worker”; Aguilar positively howls. Jangly guitars and some overdubbed bouzouki round out this killer cut.

Confrontational garage-punk on stage or soft studio psychedelia, whatever it was the Chocolate Watch Band had moved on just as Ed Cobb moved on to producing other bands like Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, and Pink Floyd. Luckily we have these scraps and oily rags from the psyche-garage to ignite but The Inner Mystique applies the balm before the burn.

“In The Past”

:) Original Vinyl | 1968 | Tower | search ebay ]
:) Vinyl Reissue | 2009 | Sundazed | buy at sundazed ]
;) MP3 Album | download here ]

The Gurus “Are Hear”

| Garage,Psych

With the current level of interest in Turkish and middle-eastern psychedelia out there, this may be
the perfect time to rediscover the sounds of The Gurus Are Hear. Formed in New York city in the
throes of 1966, the Gurus were the brainchild of a certain Ron Haffkine, a jeweler who liked to hang
around at Cafe Feenjon, a hip coffee shop on MacDougal Street that catered to a wild mixture of Arabs,
Israelis, and, apparently, psychedelic rock and roll musicians. His concept was a simple one: combine
the electric rock and roll beat that was rumbling across the charts with the exotic sounds of the middle
east. He put forward the concept to a number of talented local musicians, who not coincidentally also
happened to moonlight as Cafe Feenjon regulars, and they went in to cut a record.

The results could easily be compared to what Kaleidoscope was doing across the country at around
the same time, but the Gurus really kick things up a notch and cut back on some of the eclecticism
that distinguished their musical compadres. The Gurus Are Hear is very much a psychedelic garage
rock record, despite the prevalence of Pete Smith’s oud and the eastern warbling (the liner notes reveal
that these were often simple obscenities mispronounced in order to sound exotic). The record is full
of highlights, including a wonderfully unique take on the old garage band chestnut Louie Louie
coated in Smith’s tasteful oud playing. If you thought you’d heard every possible variation on this one
you could bear, you may want to reconsider. It really does speak to the band’s credit that, even when
delving into cosmic territories, the songs never stray far from their heavy go-go grooves. It may be
weird, but it’s always danceable. The single from the record, Blue Snow Night, backed with the crazy
album opener Come Girl, even managed to do well enough to land the band on the covers of both
Cashbox and Record World magazine.

Despite sounding so ahead of their time, however, the Gurus still come across as being an acquired
taste, due in large part to the eccentric singing of (the rather inexplicably named) Medulla Oblongata.
His faux-eastern vocalizing may lend the record a good deal of character, but also risk confounding
the unsuspecting listener. This is not to say that straighter singing would have made the record any
better, however, as his most accessible vocal just so happens to come with my least favorite cut on the
album, Rainy Day in London. Despite some intriguing instrumental flourishes, this one is a rather
turgid, sentimental ballad about walking in the rain and eating leftover cake that doesn’t quite sound
like anything else the band ever recorded.

It may come as a surprise that despite the success of the aforementioned single, The Gurus Are Hear
was to remain unreleased until 2003, when the tapes were rescued from the vaults by the good folks
at Sundazed Records. Five bonus tracks round out this rather belated release, those being a number of
alternate takes of songs already on the record and They All Got Carried Away, a moody psychedelic
pop number with some otherwise trying Polly wants a cracker vocal interjections.

“Roads to Nowhere”

:D 2003 | Sundazed | buy from sundazed | amazon ]

Truck “Surprise! Surprise!”

| Pop,Psych

Despite turning in one of the best forgotten pop records of the psych era, not much information can be found on the Malaysian band Truck. This may be due to their somewhat generic name, though I suspect it was their incredibly short lived existence as  a side project from the group “The October Cherries” that relegated them to obscurity.

Comprised of a fellow named Diaz and two brothers named Shotam, Truck released only one album, 1974’s Surprise, Surprise. The songs are solid throughout and certainly wouldn’t have been out of place on American radio of the time. On first listen, “Surprise, Surprise” certainly recalls “Odessy and Oracle”, but a few spins will reveal a strong Paul McCartney influence, especially the Wings-like use of the moog.

The vocals are reminiscent of Graham Nash, although I actually prefer Truck’s vocalist better. His doubletracked voice expertly navigates the songs, from the confident recitation of “Earth Song” to the soulful emoting of “Broken Chair”.

The most surprising aspect of this record is how consistent the songs are. There really isn’t a dud here- even the goofiness of “Take me Ohio” dissappears after multiple listens and becomes one of the more enjoyable tunes .

Surprise Surprise is a superbly crafted record, and it’s a shame not much more was ever heard of Truck. Luckily it has been reissued on Spanish label Guerssen, so it is relatively easy to find.

“Surprise, Surprise”

:D CD Reissue | 2004 | Guerssen | buy here ]
:) Orig Vinyl | 1972 | search ebay ]

The Fallen Angels “The Fallen Angels”

| Garage,Pop,Psych

The Fallen Angels were Washington D.C.’s greatest contribution to 60s rock.  They only released 2 LPs and several singles but their reputation as the area’s best act transcends this limited output.

While It’s A Long Way Down is their best offering, their first Roulette album, The Fallen Angels (1967/1968-) is packed with great songs and tight performances.  Admittedly, there are a few weaker jugband-type tracks (just two) but one can’t deny the sublime psychedelic power of rocker “Room At The Top,” the moody “Love Dont Talk To Strangers,” and trippier cuts like “Introspective Looking Glass.”  The group could lay down a groove with the best of them but on LP they favor songcraft over noodling.  Jack Bryant’s moody vocals and the album’s interesting production tricks catch the ear first but the group’s energetic drive, personal lyrics and catchy melodies will win you over in the end.  Personal favorites are the sweeping psychedelic folk-rocker “Most Children Do” and a great acid pop floater with distorted vocals titled “Painted Bird.”  The first of these, “Most Children Do” is really a fabulous mellow folk cut that’s spruced up with horns and sitar.  Harder cuts “You Have Changed” and “I’ve Been Thinking” lean toward the garage psych end of the spectrum but are no less essential.  Also, check out the bizarre Mothers of Invention influenced “Your Friends Here In Dundersville.”

While not an all-time classic on par with It’s A Long Way Down (nor is it as moody or intense as this title), The Fallen Angels is still a good album by a psychedelic group whose music has held up quite well – they were one of America’s best unknown psych rock groups.  Try to look for the vinyl reissues as the Collectables cds are marred by poor sound quality.

“Most Children Do”

:) Original Vinyl | 1967 | Roullette | search ebay ]

Horses (self-titled)

| Country Rock,Pop,Psych

Horses was a Los Angeles band pieced together by the crack songwriting team of John Carter and Tim Gilbert following the success of their lysergic bubblegum anthem Incense and Peppermints for the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Toting a bag full of new Carter and Gilbert songs, Horses recorded one album for the White Whale label in 1969, likely expecting the excitement around the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s record to carry over to their own. However, things weren’t quite that easy, and their self-titled record went nowhere fast despite containing a wealth of great material.

The first cut on the record, Freight Train, is an uptempo boogie number that was apparently being considered by Johnny Cash for his winning Orange Blossom Special album. Carter and Gilbert decided not to allow Cash to record it, however, wanting to reserve it for Horses. It would have been interesting to hear what the Man in Black would have made of the tune, but alas that was never to be. Either way, it’s a driving opener, and should have made quite a single. The melodic bass work here is courtesy of Dave Torbert, who would later go on to replace Phil Lesh in the New Riders of the Purple Sage. His playing is extraordinary throughout the record, and is definitely worth checking out if you are a student or enthusiast of the instrument in a rock and roll context.

Perhaps Horses’ greatest achievement on this record is that they manage to establish a unique and distinctive sound, a lack of which has brought many similar bands to an early grave. A key component to this sound, the subtle psychedelic flourishes, is perhaps best exemplified by Birdie in a Cage, in which the chorus brings in an electric organ and a floating vocal melody. It can’t really be said that Carter and Gilbert’s lyrics are very extraordinary here, but they function well enough in the context of the songs, and by no means detract from the overall experience. The theme to more or less every song is either travel or women, with the notable exception being the single Class of ’69, which seems designed to appeal to Summer of Love sentimentality and the revolutionary atmosphere of the times. It doesn’t quite succeed, being too firmly rooted in mainstream attitudes to really catch the spirit of the counter-culture. Nonetheless, it makes for a entertaining song.

The highlight of the record may very well come with the end of the record’s first side. Run, Rabbit, Run has a funky guitar riff and a memorable, if somewhat weird, chorus. Meanwhile, Horseradish serves as a showcase for Horses as instrumentalists, and the track fits firmly into a Little Walter blues bag, replete with rollicking amplified harmonica. Even this track proves to be memorable, a rare feat for what might otherwise have been mere filler.

It’s more or less impossible to find original copies of this album, seeing as people aren’t even sure whether or not it made it past the promotional only pressing stage. However, Rev-Ola Records has reissued it on compact disc with an early single by one of Tim Gilbert’s earlier projects, the Rainy Daze. These two tracks are more in a psychedelic garage rock bag, and aren’t all that memorable. In fact, the first of the tracks, Make Me Laugh, may be the one cut on the disc worth skipping, as it has a deadpan laugh going through it that tends to be extremely irritating.

It seems to speak for the unpredictability of the record industry that Gilbert and Carter weren’t able to make Horses a success. Modeled after popular groups like Moby Grape and the Buffalo Springfield, Horses had the musicianship and the songs that many of their contemporaries lacked. Now, however, the group is best remembered for having a singer by the name of Don Johnson. No, this is not the actor Don Johnson, though most of what you read about Horses says otherwise. It’s a real shame that this unusual piece of trivia has tended to obscure a righteous record by an extremely talented group, and Horses is long overdue for re-evaluation.

“Cheyenne”

:D CD Reissue | 2003 | Revola | buy here ]

Twink “Think Pink”

| Psych

You may not recognise the name John Charles Alder, but his musical DNA is already deeply ingrained within these pages. Drummer, percussionist and all-round looner Twink, whose nickname was bestowed by his waggish friends because his mass of (naturally) curly hair suggested a 1960s home perm product, thumped the tubs for psych maestros Tomorrow, kept time for the Pretty Things around the time of SF Sorrow and later became one half of the twin-kit power train of the Pink Fairies. Somehow amongst all this collective activity Twink also found time to record his only solo album, recorded in July 1969 and released on Polydor the following year. Besides being engaging in its own right, Think Pink is historically notable as perhaps the last hurrah of genuine old-school UK psychedelia.

Twink was a prominent member of the unique musical scene that sprang from the Notting Hill hippie enclave of the late sixties, characterised by a strong communal music-making spirit that placed enthusiasm above virtuosity and evinced a propensity for playing free concerts at every possible opportunity. The music was inevitably pharmaceutically influenced and displayed a reluctance to let go the elements of freakbeat and psychedelia, long after the more highbrow practitioners of those genres had progressed to the gentility of prog-rock. The likes of the (Social) Deviants, the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind retained a penchant for high volume, pounding rhythms, ultra-fuzzed guitars, simple, repetitive chord structures and lyrics of the most lysergic variety, and the musicians would meld and interchange seamlessly at each others’ live jams and recording sessions.

Think Pink, coming between Twink’s involvements with the Pretties and the Fairies, not surprisingly features contributions from the former’s John Povey, Viv Prince and Vic Unitt and the latter’s Paul Rudolph and Russell Hunter, as well as John Junior Wood from Tomorrow, John Honk Lodge from Junior’s Eyes and numerous other local acquaintances. Twink’s chief compositional collaborator was erstwhile Tyrannosaurus Rex conga-thumper Steve Peregrine Took. This motley crew, together with their various mind-expanding substances, produced a rambling collection of wigged-out chants, whimsical nonsense rhymes, wry fuzzed-up instrumentals, cross-legged acoustic workouts and genuine psych gems that defies any homogeneous description but will bring a nostalgic tear to the eyes of any former freak-culture adherent (if you can remember being there, that is). Production was by the Deviants’ mainman Mick Farren, and although production quality is pretty good it still sounds as if a hell of a party was enjoyed whilst the recordings were going down.

The album states its intent on the opener The Coming Of The One which simulates an acid trip more closely than anything else I’ve ever heard, with whacked-out wailings backed by backwards sitars and tablas. The cover of Twink’s own 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box from his Aquarian Age days is far, far heavier than the original and features the first of many examples of downright Stratocaster/Big Muff abuse from Rudolph. Tiptoe On The Highest Hill has a similar feel to the Floyd’s Careful With That Axe, Eugene but offers Mellotron and various contrasting guitar sounds, whilst the following Fluid features Twink’s lady Silver on orgasmic moans (it’s better than that makes it sound, honest). Mexican Grass War fades in with a sinister military snare drum march and random guitar noise and builds to a percussion tour-de-force, while the anarchic Three Little Piggies is as silly as it sounds and could have been Syd Barrett on even more acid. Like I said, the whole package defies easy description (though the estimable Julian Cope described it splendidly as one trippy, hobbitty mindf*ck of the highest water) but remains relentlessly listenable to folk of a certain age and disposition.

The only CD reissue I’ve been able to find is clearly a bootleg on the Collector’s Digitally (sic) Recordings imprint from somewhere behind the former Iron Curtain. Somehow, however, I don’t think Twink and friends would be all that concerned.

“Mexican Grass War”

:D CD Reissue | 2001 | Akarma | buy here ]
:) Vinyl Reissue | 2001  | Akarma | search ebay ]
8-) Spotify link | listen ]

Book A Trip: The Psych Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records

, , , | Pop,Psych,Sunshine

Shortly after the sonic experimentalism of Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper’s, the rules for creating the perfect pop single changed. A catchy refrain wasn’t enough“ producers and musicians were now expected to use studio technology to dress up pop hooks with trippy effects, unconventional instrumentation, and multilayered harmonies. Book A Trip: The Psych Pop Sounds Of Capitol Records collects twenty-six singles that attempted to capture some of that studio magic.

As is to be expected, there’s a distinct Beatles/Beach Boys influence throughout the tracks. Although a few betray perhaps a bit too much influence (such as The Tuneful Trolley’s magical mystery tour through the Fabs’ 1967 recorded output in Written Charter), the majority of the acts comped here took the newfound sense of musical adventure as a starting point and charted their own path. I can’t think of a better example than the anything-goes production of Tim Wilde’s Popcorn Double Feature, which not only brazenly mixes dit, dit, dits and bah, bah, bahs, but throws in an electric sitar breakdown followed by an exuberant trombone solo. And did I mention the random bubble sounds?

There’s a wide range of psych pop styles represented among the twenty-six tracks, including attempts by decidedly non-groovy Capitol acts such as The Four Preps and The Lettermen to update their sound. Yet even the more conventional numbers contain surprises in their arrangements and are worth a listen, especially Leon Russell’s Pet Sounds influenced orchestration on the Preps’ Hitchhiker. On the whole, Book A Trip is loaded with fine examples of psych pop and sunshine pop, with many tracks containing elements of both genres“ you won’t find any bad trips here.

A personal favorite is the faux-British psychedelia of The Act Of Creation’s Yesterday Noontime, its insistent percussive riff competing with undulating peals of guitar and lysergic backing vocals. Other high points include the handclaps and soaring harmonies of Fargo’s Robins, Robins, the pumping harpsichord of Stained Glass’s Lady In Lace, and the quirky vaudeville of the Sidewalk Skipper Band’s (Would You Believe) It’s Raining Flowers In My House.

Moorpark Intersection’s sole Capitol single (co-produced by David Axelrod) is another highlight. I Think I’ll Just Go And Find Me A Flower, ambles along on a sunny acoustic riff, nodding to the country-psych direction the band would later follow as Morning, while the flip, Yesterday Holds On, is a much heavier slice of orchestral psych pop.

With Book A Trip, Now Sounds has put together a first-rate compilation, featuring pristine sound and detailed track-by-track information“ the CD graphics even replicate the classic Capitol swirl 45 label. Whether you’re new to the genre or a sixties pop aficionado, there’s much to recommend here.

“Yesterday Noontime”

:D CD | 2010 | Now Sounds | buy here ]

Alain Goraguer “La Planéte Sauvage” (Fantastic Planet Original Soundtrack)

| Art,Psych

Alain Goraguer first made a name for himself as a sideman and arranger for Serge Gainsbourg, including the arrangement for Gainsbourg’s 1966 Eurovision grand prize winning song “Poupée de cire, poupée de son”.  In 1972 he scored the bizarre and moving French language animated feature “Le Planet Sauvage,” released in the States as “Fantastic Planet.” The soundtrack blends funky psyched out jazz with gorgeous woodwind, choral, and string arrangements. There’s also a few subtle appearances by the theremin.

The main descending theme appears many times, mostly on the flute or sung by an ominous choir. The standout example of the theme is “Le Bracelet,” layering clavinet and vibes under a breathy flute, with spooky pauses thrown in. If you brave the chaotic opening of “L’oiseau”, you’ll hear some beautifully dissonant glissando strings which break into an incredible version of the main theme, this time over a major key. Tenor sax solos make brief appearances here and there and there are some songs that could be outtakes from Obscured By Clouds or Dark Side of the Moon. The solo on “Générique” would be a dead ringer for Gilmore if not for the sighing strings beneath it.

The songs which deviate from variations on the main theme are the most interesting, with “Conseil de Draags” and the breathtaking psyched out waltz “Le Fusées” definitely some of the best of the 25 songs here. The jazzy “Strip Tease” comes to life in a brilliant mix of flute and sax in the middle section, married beautifully to the animation in the third act of the film.

Perhaps because of it’s function as a film score it may come across more progressive than intended, but I think it’s that twist that allows the music to stand on it’s own. It’s masterfully written and has not one boring moment. I highly recommend watching the film at least once. And see how long it takes before you start whistling the main theme.

“Strip Tease”

:) Original Vinyl | 1973 | Pathé | search ebay ]
;) MP3 Album | download here ]