Dungen- Ta Dent Lugnt (2004)

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

Dungen is a Swedish band which is more of less a monkier for multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes. Unlike many of the bands you read about on this site, Dungen is fully functioning in the present and in fact has a new album coming out in the next month. I don't think they quite fit the "obscure" tag, but I certainly wouldn't consider these folks mainstream either.

Ejstes whips up a heady acid rock groove on Ta Dent Lugnt, Dungen's third album. The band's sound is set pretty squarely in 1968, with the most obvious reference point being late-period Cream, albeit being sung in Swedish. There are lots of searing acid rock guitar leads, and the impressing drumming falls somewhere between Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell's brands of manic, swinging thumping. In fact, the only thing here that recalls the last 35 years of music is that Ejstes voice makes me think of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kedis.

Yes, the lyrics here are entirely in Swedish, so this is not a good place to search for tripped out psyche poetry, unless you're fluent in Swedish. A band like Dungen is very much about it's sound, and Ejstes' voice, while not phenomenal, is certainly expressive enough that I get an idea of the meaning.

For better or for worse, Ta Dent Lugnt is frontloaded with its standout tracks. The album starts out in a poppier mode with the one-two-three punch of "Panda," "Gjort Bort Sig," and "Festival." "Panda's" drum intro is especially of note and "Gjort Bort Sig" has an awesome vocal echo effect adorning it's chorus. Apparently, Dungen live is more a balls-out jamming affair, and the next few songs, "Du E For Fin For Mig" and the title track, have more sprawling lengths. The former is textured with some string overdubs while the latter pounds it's central riff for several minutes until morphing into, uh, jazz.

The rest of the album doesn't have as obvious highlights (except for the closing, anthemic "Sluta Folja Efter") but the flow of the album follows this lead into jazz. There are a few song fragments and several jazzy instrumentals, the best of which is the Soft Machine-like "Om Du Vore En Vakthund." Breaking this up a bit is the very Beatlesque "Lipsill," and the sludgy loud "Bortglomd." This later part of the album recalls the flow of Olivia Tremor Control albums, although without all the tape splices.

Dungen's music basically amounts to a pristine recreation of psychedelia circa 1968 on Ta Dent Lugnt. They do a phenomenal job at this, however, and deserve a listen by any fans of acid rock.

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Dungen- Ta Dent Lugnt

Chrysalis- Definition (1967)

Quality: 5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

For those of us plunging through endless piles of esoterica, we often have to concentrate on the diamonds in the the rough found on otherwise unimpressive collections. With Chrysalis' Definition, however, we really do have a top-tier album of American psychedelia that has yet to recieve it's due.

Chrysalis was a university-incubated band hailing from Ithica, New York. They built up a local following, and armed with some praises from Frank Zappa's circle of cronies, set about making Definition in New York City. The making of the album was a rough road as the band went through several producers, including Zappa himself. Strangely enough the problem didn't reside with the typical "creative differences," but instead with the horribly abrasive attitude of the band's managers. Even with these issues, the finished album is a unified-sounding product.

The band's leader and almost exclusive songwriter was a strange fellow by the name of Spider Barbour. He is apparently best known as the subject of Frank Zappa's Lumpy Gravy, which is a shame as he was also an exceptional songwriter. The tracks on Definition create a very distinctive and detailed niche of psychedelic folk rock. Barbour references many different sounds, including San Francisco rock, British psych pop like Donovan and Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band and Zappa, while creating an extremely distinctive sound. I've heard this disc likened to Zappa a bit too much. There are a few dashes of Zappa's vocal approach and instrumental flourishes on the opening track "What Will Become Of The Morning," and the closing Dr. Root's Garden employs some Zappa-style humor, but 98% percent of the time the band is most certainly doing their own thing. The almost unbearable melencholy of "Cynthia Gerome" and complete insanity of the bouncing "Baby Let Me Show You Where I Live" are wholly original.

Barbour's work as a lyricist is also of note. Many of the songs are in the form of stories, but remain conscious of word placement and sound for maximum effect. The imagery is quite strong, but avoids pretty much every cliche of psychedelic rock in 1967. Plenty of snippets of lyrics will bounce in your head long after listening. Barbour's voice is also of note, often lilting like a troubadour, but intimating some kind of hidden madness. This isn't to say I think Barbour was some sort of acid casualty as he always sounds completely in control and has a strong vision for his band.

Part of that vision includes a intensely trippy undercurrent of insect references. In fact it seems that songs like the aforementioned "Baby Let Me Show You Where I Live" and "Dr. Root's Garden" are written from an insect's perspective. In fact Barbour apparently eventually entered a career as an entomologist. The words are often a little unsettling, but always fascinating.

Every great band needs a secret weapon, and Chrysalis has two. Vocal Nancy Nairn comes across like an institutionalized Grace Slick and really tears the roof off of tracks like "April Grove" and "30 Popular." It makes me think a little of the Fiery Furnaces work almost 40 years later.

Also taking Chrysalis' music to the next level is percussionist Dahaud Shaar. His beats bring a lot of color and variety to the songs present here. While nothing here classifies as world music, Shaar seems to understand plenty of world rhythms and brings a touch of that to highlight, but not overwhelm the tracks.

The CD reissue includes eight bonus tracks, including six that don't appear on the album proper. The sound quality is a step down from the album, but seeing as such a great band has no other releases to their name, these still great tracks are invaluable. The writing and playing maintains the same amazing level of quality, even if thing get a little more hissy. According to the liner notes, Rev-Ola has plans to secure and release demo recordings for an aborted second album. I hope that these soon see the light of day.

Definition is truly a psychedelic classic. I would easily rate this with a "pick-up-as-soon-as-possible" status. Chrysalis were a completely original band with new ideas that still sounds innovative today.

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Chrysalis- Definition

Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends (1968)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 1.5 out of 5

Sunshine pop does not necessarily equate to psychedelic as this 1968 release attests. It's an odd disc that often earns favorable comparisons to Pet Sounds but in the end remains pretty square. If Laurence Welk ever tried to bring out a rockin' group to show he was "hep and with it," these folks must have been on the top of his list. And if my grandmother could still hear, I'd have no problem playing this one for her. This is not the place to look for anything that would be considered experimentation, but the sound is as sundrenched as anything you'd expect from A&M Records and Herb Alpert's guidance in the 60's.

Even without any particularly new sounds, Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is a high quality product that takes more attitude from the Sinatra dominated era of pop than the rock age. The arrangements here use a little bit of electricity and occasionally louder drums, but once the tight harmonies are in full effect, the songs tend to resemble a really good toothpaste commercial. The production is top flight and often has a dreamy sheen (hence the 1.5 on the Trip-O-Meter).

Roger Nichols carved out most of his career as a songwriter, penning Carpenters' hits such as "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days And Sundays." For a few years in the 60's he teamed with siblings Murray and Melinda MacLeod for a vocal duo that must have been in it's element in a slightly more upscale Holiday Inn lounge.

Fortunately on this album he cowrote four songs with Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher and the songs have a little more depth than I usually associate with such breezy pop. Still, don't expect anything close to the emotional whallop of Pet Sounds. There are a few more original numbers present, along with a slew of covers, including two Lennon/McCartney songs, two Lovin' Spoonful tracks, and one composition each from Burt Bacharach and Goffin/King. They do a pretty good job fitting all these songs into their signature sound, and I don't come off wishing that they'd included more original material. The Beatles songs in particular include a fine version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" (I certainly enjoy it more than Joe Cocker's version) and a rendition of "I'll Be Back" which includes and original and unexpected tag at the tail end of the song. In fact, it's my favorite moment on the album.

The Rev-Ola reissue includes 8 bonus tracks and makes a pretty nice addition to the set. We get two mono single versions of songs on the proper album while the other tracks are proper outtakes and obscure tracks. They maintain the consistancy of the album with the exception of the completely stupid "St. Bernie The Sno-Dog." But can one really expect much from a song with that title?

This is properly acknowledged as a sunshine pop classic, but don't expect any psychedelia here. The 5th Dimension sound like Captain Beefheart compared to these folks. But Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends is immaculately produced, almost sickeningly consistent, and is a good place to seek out the breezy A&M sound of the 60's.

Buy Me:
Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends

The Electric Prunes- Underground (1967)

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

The Electric Prunes second long player is a significant improvement over their first. It's lacking the instant punch of their first disc's amazing singles, but makes up for that with consistency. Here the band seems much more in control of their fate and firmly in the driver's seat. There are still some stylistic excursions, and they do not always work, but they don't jettison the Prunes' signature heavy reverb and tremelo sound as several tracks do on the first album. The band also takes on much more of a songwriting presence on Underground. Scribes Mantz and Tucker still contribute with three songs, but they don't have the massive presence that they did before.

Underground is bookended with it's best tracks. "The Great Banana Hoax," which was written by singer James Lowe and bassist Mark Tulin, starts the album off with a psychedelic tour-de-force. The band follows an awesome tom drum driven groove through several eerie and pleasingly disjointed sections of music. Although the strange structure wouldn't have earmarked this one as a single, for those willing to follow "The Great Banana Hoax" is just as rewarding as the first album's classic singles. More immediate is the closing track "A Long Day's Flight." This relatively simple garage rocker is performed with maximum impact and should have been the breakthrough single from the album (I don't believe it was ever released as a single).

In between these psychedelic masterpieces is a pretty good, if not great, album. The band seems to function best when they're riding a bubbling groove as on "The Great Banana Hoax." They manage to maintain a chill, almost San Francisco rock type of groove for five minutes on Tucker and Mantz's "I." "Children Of Rain" is a cool mid-tempo psych track and the band logs in another top flight rocker with the Lowe and Tulin written "Hideaway."

There are still a few questionable style changes on somewhat cheesy "Antique Doll" and the excursion into sunshine pop on the Goffin/King composition "I Happen To Love You." Fortunately this is not at the expense of the Prunes' trademarks, and thus are far more successful than certain tracks on the debut album.

Although lacking their best known songs, Underground is the most accurate representation of the Electric Prunes released in the 1960's, and more than deserves the ear of discerning psych rock fans.

The recent reissue includes a few non-album singles, plus a few mono mixes of the proper album tracks. Both the new remastering and the liner notes are superior and marginalize the previous CD releases of the album.

Buy Me:
Too Much To Dream: The Original Group Recordings

The Electric Prunes- I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) (1967)

Quality: 3.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.25 out of 5 (5 for the singles)

The Electric Prunes debut album is a sometimes amazing, but all too often frustrating hodge podge of several different styles. While the band is rightfully revered as one of the best psychedelic garage bands to appear in the 60's, I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) doesn't always play to the band's strengths. Along with some amazing psyche rockers, we get unfortunate attempts to include pop stylings and balladry that would at best be considered novelty numbers, and many could consider embarrassingly unlistenable.

But let's focus on the good news first. This LP is home to two of the best psychedelic singles ever released. The title track actually managed to make it to #11 on the charts and is a swirling buzz of garage perfection. Every instrument is utilized to amazing effect and the mood shifts between dreamy and a full-tilt fuzzy rocker effortlessly. If I had to explain psychedelic rock to an Neptunian, this would be one of my first plays. It's quintessential.

The follow-up single, "Get Me To The World On Time," is almost as good. While the track lacks the groovy mood shifts of the title tracks, it compensates with a gloriously twisted and distorted Bo Diddley beat. I have to admit that I think that this particular beat is generally overused, but here it works with the space-time ripping guitars and powerful vocals.

Actually the first side of the album holds up pretty well. There are a few lesser, but enjoyable rockers in "Bangles" and "Are You Loving Me More (But Enjoying It Less)". "Onie" is a slight almost bubblegum ballad, but is far from an embarrassment. Only "Sold To The Highest Bidder," featuring some out of place world-folky string instruments, bogs this side down. Unfortunately it's a masterpiece compared with some of the horrors on the second side.

Of course things start well with "Get Me To The World On Time," but then the band tries on some ill-fitting psychedelic pop affectations on the pop standard, "About A Quarter To Nine," and "The King Is In The Counting House," which is most notable for some wretch-inducing lyrics. Things get a little better on "Try Me On For Size," which is a little more of a rocker, but then the bottom falls out completely on "The Toonerville Trolley." It's one of those ultra twee vaudeville things, and really strokes your gag reflex. It's the aural equivilent of a train wreck. Anyone scouting this album out might want to stop the disc a track early.

The band is not completely to blame. Producer Dave Hasslinger, while proving to be quite a boon on the singles, was not nearly as adept at guiding the boys into genre other than nut-busting psychedelic garage rock. A similar gift and curse are the songs of Annette Tucker and Nancie Muntz. With Tucker co-writing six songs with Muntz (including the title track), and another two with Jill Jones (including the second single), their presence here is more than notable. Unfortunately, this team is also responsible for "The Tunerville Trolley." The band only logs in with two songs of their own, so they didn't seem to have their hand completely on the tiller at this point. Although very talented, The Electric Prunes are a band much better left in their garage psyche niche. They weren't really equipped for genre hopping.

While very far from a perfect set, I Had To Much To Dream (Last Night) is still an essential purchase for the psych fan. Although you'll probably want to avoid some of the dangerous water present here, you will be rewarded with two top-notch singles and several solid album tracks.

The recent reissue includes a few non-album singles, plus a few mono mixes of the proper album tracks. Both the new remastering and the liner notes are superior and marginalize the previous CD releases of the album.

Buy Me:
Too Much To Dream: The Original Group Recordings

Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth (1968)

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

No, the double "f's" above are not a typo. This fleeting psych pop band from 1968 chose these strange looking words in honor of a British cartoonist named Wally Ffolks. Fortunately, and unlike many wacked out obscuro bands, these guys had the songwriting chops and atmospherics to shore up their nomenclature.

Sallies Fforth is the sole full length release from this band out of High Wycombe (can't say I know where that is, other than somewhere in England). The album is at heart a collection of demo recordings, and was put out as such by an impressed Parlophone. The only other existant track, included on the Rev-Ola CD, is a great non-LP single called "Go Girl."

The Rainbow Ffolly's musical style does stand out from the rest of the British psych-pop pack. Most bands of the era seemed to use Revolver-era Beatles, Syd Barrett, or the Yardbirds as their basic template to build a psychedelic sound. These guys seem to build their psychedelia more off of the folk-rock sound of Rubber Soul. The ballads in particular are in a distinctly McCartney-esque vein. In fact, there's a song present here called "Drive My Car," although strangely enough it's a completely different song than the Rubber Soul track of the same name.

On top of this template, the Ffolly throw on some well-done music hall touches and echo effects and then stitch the whole album together with some strange British humor and sound effect interludes. In fact the opening of the disc makes me think of the intro tracks often found on Hip-Hop albums, although markedly less funky and more British here.

Also pushing the Ffolly ahead is some great songwriting. There's not a bad song present on the album and most of it is first rate. "Drive My Car," "Hey You," "Sun Song," and "No" are phenomenal rockers. "No" benefits from a strange rubbery beat and fuzz bass, while "Drive My Car" is propulsed by a skiffle like rhythm. Even better are the ballads "Montgolfier" and "Goodbye." These have a bit of a Brazillian touch to my ear and feature perfect arrangements. The band manages some English music hall arrangements that don't come across as dorky-sounding on "I'm So Happy" and "They'm."

As mentioned earlier, Sallies Fforth is basically demo recordings. Parlophone rushed this album out much to the band's dismay. Although the recording is quite good, and much better than typical 60's demo quality, the folks in Rainbow Ffolly wanted to add some more overdubs to flesh the album out. I have to say that I'm glad Parlophone ran off with the unfinished album. I can see where the band might have added soome more stuff, but I think doing so would make Sallies Fforth far less distinctive. Many songs have a truly psychedelic, yet-sparse sound that I don't recall hearing many other places. At times it seems like a more together version of Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs.

Also of note is the tripped-out cover art. It was produced by the band and sort of makes me think of something a relatively talented high schooler would come up with. It's nicely representative of both the music insine and has a basic signifier of British psychedelia.

Those of us plunging through the depths of obscure psychedelia often have to sift through lots of dull or simply "ok" stuff to get to the real gems. Sallies Forth is the kind of disc that makes the searching worth it.

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Rainbow Ffolly- Sallies Fforth

The Mystery Trend- So Glad I Found You (1966-1967; compilation released 1999)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

The Mystery Trend's place in music history exists in a strange twilight. I suppose that they're best known for having a place on the Nuggets box set (with their lone single "Johnny Was A Good Boy") and for naming their band off of misinterpreted lyrics out of Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (they should more accurately be The Mystery Tramps). Otherwise, they are now basically a footnote to the San Francisco scene, but still they were there at the start of the scene, playing along with the early Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead. The band unfortunately never really found an opportunity to put out any more than a Verve Records single, and this compilation consists of their entire recorded output, the vast majority of which was unreleased until the 1990's. As this is basically everything, it's a little spotty. But the high points are truly spectaular, however, and I feel like if The Mystery Trend had found the opportunity to put together a proper album, it may have been a true classic.

The Mystery Trend does share some similarities with their San Francisco bretheren. The vocal sound is extremely strong and layered, often resembling the Jefferson Airplane at their best. The winding guitar leads also recalls many of the bands from that era. There's a freak-folky sound right in line with the Dead and the Airplane's debut albums. If you're open to the San Francisco scene, there is definitely something here to grab your attention.

The true charm, however, rests in the little differences. The Mystery Trend was a bit older than the rest of the crowd and skipped over some West Coast psychedelic pitfalls. First off, jamming was completely ignored by The Mystery Trend. They were truly fascinated by the art of the pop song, and their strong writing (usually in the hands of keyboardist.vocalist Ron Nagle and guitarist/vocalist Bob Cuff) often recalls that of Burt Bacharach or the Brill Building. Only one track here passes the three minute mark, and that one only makes it to four.

Standing out even more is The Mystery Trend's atypical sound. Psychedelia in general relies on quite a bit of reverb and echo to create a strange vibe. The guitars here are very dry and brittle sounding. Still, they manage to cut right through the powerful rhythm section to make a strong impression. This sound is mixed with Ron Nagle's also bone-dry clavinet. The band may be playing the same notes as their more-poular peers, but the sound ends up being very different. If nothing else, this makes their recordings worth a listen or two. For a fun comparison pair their cover of the Who's "Substitute" along with the original.

The songs, while often strong, remain a mixed bag. This is understandable as this disc is the band's complete recordings and they were never trying to produce an entire album. Both sides of their only single, which included "Johnny Was A Good Boy" and "House On The Hill," are standouts. Even better still are the should-have-been single "Carl Street" (presented in two versions), the lyrically biting "Mercy Killing," and the Bacharach influenced "There It Happened Again." These high points make up for some of the lesser tracks like the dull instrumental "Mambo For Marion," and the annoying "Carrots On A String" (which also shows up twice for some reason). The otherwise average "Shame, Shame, Shame" is notable for including what must be one of the earliest uses of a wah pedal on guitar.

If you can track this one down, So Glad I Found You is a worthwhile and important release that clears up some of the smoke surrounding this formerly enigmatic band from the initial burst of San Francisco psychedelia.

Buy Me:
The Mystery Trend- So Glad I Found You

Sagittarius- The Blue Marble (1969)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

Although Sagittarius' first album Present Tense has gained somewhat of a reputation over the years, The Blue Marble remains largely unknown. The album debuted on the fledgeling Together Records, which unfortunately folded shortly after the release of this record and forced the music into a nose dive into obscurity. This is quite a shame as The Blue Marble features some great sunshine pop and is a worthy follow up to Present Tense.

Present Tense is more of a peaks and valleys record. While some songs there make me cringe, the high points are among the best that 60's music has to offer. The Blue Marble is a lot more consistant. There's nothing here with the punch of "My World Fell Down," but we are spared another "Musty Dusty."

The Blue Marble seems to have Gary Usher firmly in the driver's seat. Whereas Present Tense ended up having Curt Boettcher working practically as a collaborator, he appears here with only one songwriting credit, three production credits, and a smattering of vocals. Usher wrote a good 80% percent of The Blue Marble, five of them alone.

Usher really was one of the best producers in the late 60's, and that is apparent here with awesome multi-track layering and some tasteful use of the Moog synthesizer. The pitfall on The Blue Marble is that the songwriting tends not to stand out very much. Still, nothing here is embarrassing, and the lyrics aren't too bad.

The lead off track here is a "cover" of the Beach Boys' "In My Room." Since Usher co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson, I'd say he has full rights to play with it, and does so here recasting it in an almost Smile-like baroque-pop arrangement. On "From You To Us," we hear a ripping Moog bass-line, and I'd say if The Blue Marble has one major improvement over Present Tense, it would be in Usher's use of this synth. In fact, I don't recall the Moog being used in a better manner on any other 60's pop album. On the title track the Moog provides an really cool atmospheric atmosphere, while it makes for a nice retro-futuristic lead on "Lend Me A Smile."

It's really hard to choose highlights here as there's an extremely consistant, although far from dull sound. The closing track, "Cloud Track," could speak for the entire album as it's a pretty dreamy affair. The bonus section on my disc provides a few singles and alternate versions, but it does serve up a should-have-been-standout track with "Navajo Girl." There's a nice wall of sound present and the track almost rocks (as much as sunshine pop is going to). It recalls something like the Beach Boys' "Darlin'." The lyrics do seem a touch un-PC in the modern world however.

My 2001 CD reissue mostly does justice to Usher's production and crystaline arrangements. The album does seem to have a touch of vinyl noise here and there, so I'm pretty sure the master tapes were not available for remastering. The bonus tracks are in a too-compressed mono, but they're still quite listenable. It is a shame this album remains unknown as it is a sparkling example of sunshine pop.

Buy Me:
The Blue Marble

Sagittarius- Present Tense (1967)

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

Sagittarius was the brainchild of producer Gary Usher. Although having worked with legends such as Brian Wilson and the Byrds, Usher felt that he wanted to record under his own steam. Pressures from the record company wouldn't allow him the time or money to persue this on his own, hence Usher created the faux-band Sagittarius.

The project in it's initial form resulted in the classic "My World Fell Down"/"Hotel Indiscreet" single. The A-side is a masterpiece and one of the absolute best psychedelic singles of the 60's. Featuring Glen Campbell and Bruce Johnston on vocals (both of whom had subbed for Brian Wilson in the touring version of the Beach Boys), plus various members of the LA session pros known as the Wrecking Crew, we basically get the best Beach Boys tracks that none of the band members actually had a hand in. It has a very SMiLe like cut-and-paste sound, with the added avant-garde bonus of a found sound midsection. The B-side of the single sounds like the theme song for some strange sex sitcom with a short interlude from a screaming hippie-fascist courtesy of the Firesign Theatre.

After the initial single, the history of Present Tense becomes a bit more convoluted. Faced with the prospect of creating an entire album, Usher brought in Curt Boettcher, who had worked with The Association, The Ballroom, Eternity's Children, and later, The Millennium. With Boettcher's presence, the final album has a very different feel from the single.

Present Tense is certaintly a sugary-sweet album, perhaps the sunniest of sunshine pop. While "My World Fell Down" has a strong tinge of melancholy, the later tracks don't. Boettcher's voice, prominent on the finished album, is also quite different.

As long as the listener doesn't expect more creations like "My World Fell Down" and can stand a little syrup, Present Tense is a very worthwhile album. "Another Time," "The Keeper Of The Games," "Would You Like To Go," and "The Truth Is Not Real" are all immaculately writted sunshine pop songs with spectacular vocal arrangement. Even questionably titled songs such as "Song To The Magic Frog" make for pleasant listening.

I imagine scheduling was a problem and a few tracks from Boettcher's previous project The Ballroom are ported over to Present Tense. Unfortunately, one of those tracks is "Musty Dusty," which was embarassing on the Ballroom's album and remains so here. Usher's presense is best felt on the awesome and etherial "The Truth Is Not Real." "My World Fell Down" and "Hotel Indiscreet" are present here in inferior versions with the avant garde sections excised. That said, the modified versions do fit the flow of the album better, and the original single is present in the bonus section.

The bonus tracks are quite strong many of them could have been a strong asset to the album proper- certaintly they coud have replaced "Musty Dusty." Usher has another opportunity to shine on the harmony laden "Mass #586" while "Get The Message" could have been a great single in 1967.

Present Tense is one of the stronger sunshine pop albums, with a production touch somewhere between SMiLe and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. It's a perfect wall to follow up The Millennium's Begin, although I would probably recommend that 1968 project first.

Buy Me:
Sagittarius- Present Tense

Gandalf- Gandalf (1969)

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

Gandalf is one of the more sought after pieces of late-60's vinyl. This album itself is prime 1967 psychedelia, but as you may note from the date above, a almost-two year delay (by which time the band had long since dissolved!) relagated Gandalf to obscurity. It probably didn't help that the band's name was somewhat of a misnomer anyway as the group spent 98 percent of their existence as the somewhat unfortunately named Rahgoos.

Still, the name Gandalf easily conjures up images of wizardry and songs about elves and gnomes. Strangely enough, we find none of that here. Instead, the band resembles an American version of the Zombies trapped in an acoustically superior well with a predilection towards showtunes about women's accessories ("Golden Earrings," "Scarlet Ribbons," "Tiffany Rings"). Much of the psychedelia on these cover songs involve an amazing amount of echoey reverb on the vocals. Another lynchpin of Gandalf's sound is some extensive use of the Hammond B3 organ. How much you like that particular instrument will likely influence your opinion of Gandalf.

The strange thing about Gandalf, especially for late-1967 (the recording date), is their lack of original tunes. The two present here, "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" and "I Watch The Moon," are by no means lacking in songwriting chops. In fact they are some of the best songs here, sporting a great west coast-style (even though they were from Jersey) psych-pop structure as opposed to relying on production tricks alone for an altered sound. Apparently, the band simply didn't have enough original material. It's too bad they couldn't have spent 1968 writing and recording more instead of just waiting for the existing album to be released.

Still, Gandalf's cover selections are outstanding, and even the choices that look questionable on paper end up sounding great. Peggy Lee's hit "Golden Earrings" and "Nature Boy" from the interminably strange Eden Ahbez are transformed from what could easily be novelty numbers into dreamy, floating meditations. "Golden Earrings" in particular ended up being Gandalf's single and is probably their signature number. The band also seems to have outsourced three songs from a fellow named Tim Hardin. In fact, the lurching rhythm of "Hang On To A Dream" is an early highlight of the album. "Tiffany Rings" is the only track her which really doesn't do it for me. On this one the group seems to cross the line from mysterious into twee, which for me disturbs the flow of the album.

The album ends with a pair of deeply psychedelic rock songs. Gandalf was not really a showcase for instrumental prowess, but they were able to lock into a great groove which they take time to draw out a little more on "Me About You," and "I Watch The Moon." "I Watch The Moon" in particular is a goldmine for lovers of the Hammond B3 organ, which on the track is matched with some blazing fuzz guitar.

Also of note is the flamboyantly insane cover art. It seems to depict some kind of tripped-out butterfly god or something. The cover alone catapulted Gandalf to the top of my shopping list. The emotionless expression and yellow eyes actually scare me a little bit. The music isn't really wacked out enough to match this prime display of pop art, but it certainly catches one's attention.

Gandalf is far from the top of the 60's rock pile, but it deserves to be heard. The band managed to carve out a sound similar to the Zombies, but with enough of their own touches to keep from sounding like a knockoff.

As a side note, Gandalf 2 saw release from Sundazed early this year. Apparently, it's a collection of demos, live tracks and such, but it interestingly contains far more original songs. I'd be curious to know how the sound quality holds up on the new disc.

Buy Me:
Gandalf- Gandalf (1968)

The High Llamas- Can Cladders (2007)

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

The High Llamas, which is basically short hand for producer/songwriter/vocalist Sean O'Hagan, have spent the last 15 years mostly recreating Brian Wilson's 1966-1969 sound (along with a touch of Steely Dan and electronic hints from their sibling band, Stereolab). O'Hagan is a pro at this style of production, and in fact has been consistantly pumping out quality product longer than Wilson himself ever managed. The problems have always been with the songwriting, which is nowhere near the levels of someone like Wilson or Steely Dan's Donald Fagan, and O'Hagan's voice, which is sort of a weak, reedy instrument.

Can Cladders, which is the first new Llamas disc in four years, fortunately takes steps to remedy both of these problems. Although the band started strong on Santa Barbara and Gideon Gaye, later 90's albums like Hawaii and Cold And Bouncy had a distinct focus on the instrumental production sound, and the songs seemed more like afterthoughts. 1999's Snowbug and 2003's Beet, Corn, And Maize tried to be more song-oriented, but just ended up kind of boring (I could never actually pay attention to Beet, Corn, and Maize). Buzzle Bee found a good balance, although it skimped on the string arrangements, but the new album is an improvement over even that disc. Can Cladders ties all the loose ends together and is the Llamas' best album.

O'Hagan will probably never be an A-list songwriter, but there are some catchy tunes here to match the gorgeous production. Songs like "The Old Spring Town," "Winter Day," "Honeytrop," and the title track have all been bouncing around in my head for the past few weeks. Previous Llamas maybe had only one or two songs to accomplish this feat. The instrumental tracks have been reduced here to three one-minute pleasant diversions as opposed to major album features. Long-time string arranger Marcus Holdaway also hits a home run here, as his creative string arrangements perfectly compliment the songs, and I think are in fact superior to those of his late-60's sunshine pop predecessors.

Lyrically, the album is about average. O'Hagan is fixated on surreal travelogues and Americana. He wants to be Smile-era Van Dyke Parks, but never achieves that level of wordplay. It's not really a problem though as folks don't really listen to this stuff for the lyrics, and they are much better than most of the Beach Boys' lyrics (Parks nonwithstanding).

The weak singing problem still remains. Although the melodies are much stronger, O'Hagan still sounds weak. But there are steps towards improvement. I imagine that he is fully aware of his own voice as most of the tracks are lathered with layers of female backing vocals and sometimes even lead lines. O'Hagan has long borrowed electronic sounds from Stereolab, but on Can Cladders he is also following through with the vocal sound (and I guess the Free Design too).

The High Llamas have always been a band better in theory than actual sound and listening enjoyment. I held off a little on buying this album because of this, but Can Cladders is in fact the first disc to really live up to the band's potential. It's a little surprising for a band to reach their peak this late in the game, but Sean O'Hagan has managed this, and I'm excited to hear the next album (which hopefully will not take another four years).

Buy Me:
The High Llamas - Can Cladders

Gruff Rhys- Candylion (2007)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Gruff Rhys is the frontman for modern psych-popsters, the Super Furry Animals. This, his second solo album, is far more than a typical side project and actually features a sound notably different from his day job. Candylion is sort of a psych-folk project highlighted by some bubbling electronics and beats along with some electric guitar leads. There is also a pronounced Cambridge style influence (think Kevin Ayers) that is usually missing in the Super Furries catalog.

The album starts out with the aptly titled "This Is Only The Beginning" which is akin to the introduction tracks that tend to start off hip-hop albums. I find it a little disappointing as the track ends with a synth riff that I would have loved to have heard developed into a full song.

The song "Candylion" establishes the basic sound of the album with it's hazy folkish sound and surreal lyrics. Although very consistant in quality, the album suffers in that the style never strays too far away from this basic sound.

The songwriting is almost always fine ("Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru" leaves me a little cold), but the production, though sounding very hazily cool, eventually ends up also sounding very samey. Still, "The Court Of King Arthur," "Cycle Of Violence," and "Painting People Blue" are all great songs that establish Rhys as a strong solo creative force.

The Super Furries last album, Love Kraft, was partially recorded in Brazil, as were portions of Candylion. I was disappointed that the Brazillian influences didn't really seem to show through on Love Kraft. Fortunately, there is a little more to chew on. "Lonesome Words" and "Cycle Of Violence" in particular both have an awesome percussive bed as their foundation that evokes Brazillian percussion (even though it's basically the same percussive bed).

Unlike Rhys first solo album, Candylion is mostly sung in English. There is still one song sung in Rhys native Welsh, and a Spanish language track. Although Rhys lyrics are often surreal and interesting, his voice is his main asset and he seems to do well singing in any language.

Candylion ends with the 14 minute long "Skylon!," which is the detailed story of an airline hijacking. It sort of evokes Bob Dylan's long story songs, and the focus here is very much on the lyrics. In fact, the main riff and beat really doesn't change over the 14 minutes, and the song relies on sound effects, trippy overdubs, and additional percussion to remain musically interesting.

Although far from perfect, Candylion is a worthwhile detour from the Super Furry Animals more plugged-in sound. Although my quality rating here is a 3.5, I think that Candylion serves up an extremely smooth listening experience, and has ended up being played on my various sound systems more than some theoretically better albums. The cover art also makes me strangely happy.

Buy Me:
Gruff Rhys - Candylion

13th Floor Elevators- Easter Everywhere (1967)

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

On Easter Everywhere, the 13th Floor Elevators managed to refine their sound without sacrificing the things that made their first album so great. Roky Erickson still sounds like a madman, but here he also comes across as much more intelligent and focused. Additionally, while still a little on the low-fi side, the production of Easter Everywhere is much clearer and helps to accent the band's interplay (although the rhythm section on this album is different from the first).

Although they still qualify as garage rockers, the 13th Floor Elevators have a much more noticable folk rock sheen on Easter Everywhere. They even go as far as to include a damn good Dylan cover with "Baby Blue." On "Slide Machine," "Nobody To Love," "Dust," and "I Had To Tell You," the Elevators find a happy middle ground somewhere between the Byrds crystaline sound and Forever Changes-era Love. Fortunately for the garage rock afficianado, the Elevators pull out on the stops on "She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own),"Earthquake," and "Levitation." These helps to give Easter Everywhere a lot of diversity and make it ain interesting listen from beginning to end.

Easter Everywhere provides plenty of improvements over the first LP. Tommy Hall's jug can no longer coast as a strange novelty. It appears less often on Easter Everywhere, but when it is present serves more to create an distinct atmosphere. For me it's like quantum jitters in the typical tapestry of rock music. Stacy Sutherland leaps over his already strong playing on The Psychedelic Sounds Of... His solo on "Step Inside This House" manages to inspire awe and his accompanyment on many of the tracks, especially on "Baby Blue," is graceful and impressive. He is not a flashy guitarist at all, but extremely tasteful and Sutherland always seems to choose just the right notes.

The lyrics are also much better on Easter Everywhere. Hall takes on the lion's shares of the lyrics, and while his worldview is certainly demented, he successfully sidesteps most psychedelic cliches and gives the listener something unique. It doesn't hurt that Erickson's all-for-broke singing usually complements Hall's vision perfectly. This synergy is best sampled on the opening track "Step Inside This House." It rarely makes logical sense, but it's never less than riveting.

The only misstep on Easter Everywhere is the closing track "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)." While not a terrible mistake by any means, it does overstay its welcome at six-and-a-half minutes. I guess the Elevators had already spent their long-form song capital on "Step Inside This House," which may even be too short at eight minutes.

Like The Psychedelic Sounds Of..., the 2005 Charly CD reissue of Easter Everywhere gives us ten bonus tracks. The ones here are fortunately of significantly more value. There are eight live tracks, but this time they are of original compositions from The Psychedelic Sounds Of... instead of rock covers that every band played in the mid 60's. The sound quality is not bad at all (although you still need the 1st album), and it's cool to hear the band really rip into their own stuff in a live setting. It's certainly better than the band's so-called "live" album, which is actually just studio outtakes with overdubbed crowd noise (these mp3s are included with the first album at Dr. Schluss). As for the other two bonus tracks, an instrumental take of "Levitation" is basically filler, but we get an entertaining studio outtake called "I Don't Ever Want To Come Down" that actually comes from the sessions for the band's next album.

Easter Everywhere and The Psychedelic Sounds Of... basically comprise the 13th Floor Elevator's essential catalog. The "live" album is not as advertised and not recommended. There is also a metaphoric pantload of studio alternate takes and other live tracks on a string of compilations only recommended for those completely obsessed with the 13th Floor Elevators. The final studio album, Bull Of The Woods, is missing Hall's electric jug, and his presence as lyricist is much less. Even worse, Erickson's drug use landed him in several kinds of institutions and he is mostly absent from the album. That said, he is fully present for a mysterious and great take on "May The Circle Be Unbroken." This means the band is mostly dependent on Sutherland. He took on the challenge respectably with increased songwriting and great guitar playing, but it's still just not the same as the magical first two albums.

Buy Me:
13th Floor Elevators- Easter Everywhere

The 13th Floor Elevators- The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)

Quality- 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter- 3.75 out of 5

Although the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Carnaby Street psychedelic scenes of the 60's are well documented and revered, some of the also-enviable microscenes are left out in the cold. Chief among these is the Austin, Texas scene from which sprouted a just-starting-out Janis Joplin, the Red Crayola, and the infamous 13th Floor Elevators.

Although a proper band, the most notorious member of these garage-psyche rockers is Roky Erickson, sometimes regarded as America's own analog to Syd Barrett. Like Barrett, Erickson shined with the band for a few albums before embarking on a fractured solo career. Fortunately for Erickson, despite his questionable grasp on sanity, he continues to occasionally pop up to make music to this day. Even better, Erickson possesses perhaps the finest voice ever heard in garage-psyche, a wildman yelp that whcih always sounds obssessed, and manages to make even more half-baked sounds worthy. On the album in question, Erickson is at his finest.

But the 13th Floor Elevators were not a one trick pony. Lyricist Tommy Hall wanted to double as a true member of the band and brought in something called the electric jug. It produces a truly odd, bubbly sound that permeates most of the band's songs. In full disclosure, you'll either love it or hate it, and if you hate it, it will be difficult to get into this band. The real secret weapon here, however, is lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland. His winding and often stately leads compare favorably with even such notables as Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane.

The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators is often cited as the first psychedelic album. Although that's more than up for debate, I do believe it was the first album to actively use the word "psychedelic." The still eye-catching sleeve was definately among the first of its kind.

The Elevators seeked to expand their music making into a strange, acid-drenched form of philosophy. Judging by the rantings on the back cover of the record jacket, they didn't really think out this philosophy, but it does seem to bring a certain level of conviction to the music. It also makes the lyrics a notch above the norm of most of the band's contemporaries. Even when they don't make sense, they seem to being saying more than just the typical boy-meets(or loses)-girl love songs.

Leading off the album is what I consider one of the best rock songs ever, "You're Gonna Miss Me." At heart the tune is a typical mid 60's stomper, but with the electric jug wildly perculating and Erickson sounding truly possessed, the whole track turns to gold. Soon the Elevators start to bring out the truly psychedelic riffs. "Roller Coaster" provides a trance-like guitar part that eventually erupts into a rave-up that rivals those of The Yardbirds. Later we hear a speaker-busting bassline that can consume your mind on "Reverberation (Doubt)." Although arguably at their best on the full-blast psych-rockers on this album, the Elevators churn out some more-than-respectable folk-psych ballads on "Splash 1," "Don't Fall Down," and "You Don't Know." These tracks hint at the path that the band would follow on their next album Easter Everywhere.

The chief problem on The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators is the often-muddy production. I'd imagine that the culprit for this is the recording budget rather than the band or producer Leland Rogers (Kenny's brother!). Still, it makes obtaining a copy of this album worth a little research. There's a 180-gram vinyl pressing that manages to sound pretty good. I'm sitting with a 2005 Charly Records CD, which is my 3rd CD copy of this disc, and the first to remove some of the gauze from the sound. Even on this remastered disc, it's a primitive sounding recording and requires the listener to have some appreciation for lo-fi.

The Charly CD includes 10 bonus tracks that are enjoyable, but are no more than a supplement to the album. First we get several live tracks of rock standards ("Before You Accuse Me," "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love," "You Really Got Me," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Gloria," and "The Word") that are sort of a history lesson. Very few bands could get away with playing all originals in 1966, and playing these tunes were the 13th Floor Elevators' bread and butter on the ballroom circuit. We also get an early version of "She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own)," which later appears on Easter Everywhere, and a single from Erickson's previous band, The Spades. On the single we hear an early, straight-faced version of "You're Gonna Miss Me," which manages to bring into relief exactly what the Elevators brought to the song to make it truly great.

Buy Me:
The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators

Psyched By The 4-D Witch (A Tale Of Demonology) (1972)

Quality: 1 out of 5

Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

This is what complete insanity looks like; at least in movie form. Although produced in the 70's, "Psyched By The 4-D Witch" resurfaced on a DVD from Something Weird video a few years back. Unleashing this film to the unwitting public may be tantamount to selling crack to kindergardeners. It's a depraved tour-de-force of exploitation and psychedelia in the not-so-sure hands of its twisted director, Victor Luminera. As this film is his only credit, I imagine that his follow-up to this must have been some sort of bad trip extravaganza in the local gutter. It's the only real way to follow this spectacle.

The story involves Cindy, a college freshmen exploring witchcraft... (dramatic pause) sexual witchcraft! With the help of her supposed ancestor, communicating from the astral plain, Cindy begins a series of warped sexual exploits, all while "remaining a virgin for her daddy" (I'm not riffing here, this is what the film tells us). Eventually things turn sour and bring in Cindy's innocent older brother as a transformed "sex vampire," thus living up to the psyching promised in the film's title.

Now, this all sounds like a soft core 70's porn, and I imagine that this may have been the intended audience. Through the twisted direction of Luminera, however, the final result is quite different.

First off, much of the film is shot in "transetheric vision," which appears to be shorthand for using every cheap psychedelic camera trick in the book. This refers of course to the film shot for the movie, as I think around 50% percent of this demented journey appears to be stock footage. But even some of that seems to have been tweeked in one way or another. We see interdimensional multi-coloured cars passing through each other, and some completely indecipherable images from the astral plane. Due to the age of the film, a lot of these effects now sport a reddish color.

As this was shot on a Z-grade budget, there is no actual dialog in the film. Cindy narrates with her sweet All-American tone as she details the sordid world of sexual witchcraft. After the first 15 minutes, her occasional obscinities are strangely edited (I don't think it's possible to edit this one for the kids). We also hear a bit of disembodied narration from Cindy's brother and the "gay" neighbor next door, who should offend, well... everyone. Most of the soundtrack music is comprised of stock classical recordings and a touch of Pink Floyd that probably came from Mr. Luminera's personal "stash."

There is one major exception to the soundtrack. Composed especially for the film is the titular track played by a non-descript garage-psyche band and sung by some guy known only as Johnny-By-The-Spot. Actually, I should give a little more credit the band. They don't have much skill or talent, but they're really playing their balls off and show absolutely no restraint whatsoever. Over this, Mr. By-The-Spot bellows out lines such as "Beware of the 4-D witch, beware/She's in your mind, she's everywhere/Born in the belly of the Devil's bitch/Beware of the 4-D witch." The song appears about every ten minutes or so, and is a good sign that the proceedings are about to become even more demented. It's also a horribly catchy little tune that should pop up in your head at inappropriate times in the future.

"Psyched By The 4-D Witch" is certainly not for everyone. It is terribly offensive, and poorly made. Still, for those willing to dive in, it is a masterpiece of trash culture. Everything here seems tailor made for maximum strangeness and I'd personally love to catch this one as a midnight movie somewhere.

The Something Weird disc actually contains "Psyched By The 4-D Witch" as a second feature. The top billed "Monster A-Go-Go" is directed by the legendary Herschell Gordon Lewis, but is unfortunately a dull sci-fi patch job using footage from an earlier aborted film by Bill Rebane. There is also a treasure chest of trailers for bad psychedelic films that actually ups the value of the disc.

Buy Me:
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Go-Go-Psyched-4-D-Witch/dp/B0000687DF/sr=8-1/qid=1171351410/ref=sr_1_1/002-3040409-1725623?ie=UTF8&s=dvd