Dragonfly - 1968 - Celestial Songs EP

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

As you can see from the cover art, Dragonfly was the first home of Peter Criss, drummer from Kiss. Wait, no. Scratch that. Here we have a talented group of Dutch guys who called themselves Dragonfly who managed a 1968 released but never got to record more than an EP. It's too bad because this is a damn fine EP with great psychedelic hooks and a touch of experimentation that shows some real promise.

"Celestial Dreams" actually packs several innovations into its four minutes. Along with a fine, almost psych-folk vocal we get an awesome jazzy rhythm section, a touch of Hendrix-type lead guitars, and some odd noises which sound halfway between the three-way of analog synths, strings, and horns swooping through the background. Then with the similarly titled "Celestial Empire," the band lunges into full-tilt fuzzed out garage psych. That's a lot of genres for one side of an EP.

The second side includes a few lighter rockers that show no drop in quality with "Desert Of Almond" and "Prince Of Amboyna." Maybe these guys were going for concept albums in miniature. These last couple tracks make me think of early Caravan a little bit as they are also psych pop with a touch of jazz rhythms thrown it. Distinctively different is once again the guitarist, who is one of the best Hendrix imitators that I've come across. It almost makes me think that the man himself may have dropped in on these sessions. Almost.

You'll thirst for more after you give this a listen, but we've got to get what we can. These guys are ripe for one of those compilations that dredge up long forgotten studio demos and/or live tracks if such a thing exists.