29 October 2016

Chad & Jeremy - 1968 - The Ark

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Oh, it's British, oh so British. For this slab of vinyl, Chad & Jeremy step their ambition, and this basically involves sounding like the psychedelic phase of the Hollies.  I guess that is one approach to take - they sound pretty much on an even keel with those fellows.  All in all you get a more cohesive listen, with the orchestration ever present, but more in vibe with the songs, and the raga rock making itself ever known.

On the last album, you got the single version of "Painted Dayglow Smile," but now you get the LP version, which actually does sound better.  "Sunstroke" is absolutely fantastic raga rock and many of the other tracks present find a good balance between silken British folk and bombastic orchestration.  Only "Transatlantic Trauma 1966" gets called into the dunce's corner for being pointlessly atonal.  Maybe it is there to reprogram your mind?

Do you like the Hollies "Butterfly?"  I do!  Do you hate that album?  Steer clear.  "The Ark" is almost the same flavor.  It's different enough that you are not listening to a xerox copy, but it is definitely flowing through the same slipstream.  A twin shadow of an album you dig is not always a bad thing, jah?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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