It's been nearly a year and a ha
lf since I posted the first installment of the Psych Psampler, but there's so many great records out there that between the nearly 1500 that I've featured on the daily 45 and the 100 or so I've featured here, the well of choice soul, r&b, rock n roll and all sub categories in between, seems to be virtually bottomless. First up we have the EXCELLENT 1968 track "All I See Is You" from Minnesota's Jokers Wild. The freaky sound isn't a theremin (ala "Good Vibrations") but that of a slide whistle- a cheap children's annoying noisemaker (I know I made my own share of annoying noise with a slide whistle in my early days), put here to perhaps its best ever use! The b-side, "I Just Can't Explain It" is pretty great as well, but for the time its British Invasion-esque sound was getting pretty dated. Sounds fantastic today though to these ears.
Next up we have a SLICK but ROCKING number from Boston's Orphans, who later dropped the "s' and became Orphan. Something about Boston bands of the time; they were REALLY tight (witness The Remains) and The Orphans impress with some fantastic harmonies here and a wild, freakout guitar solo from group leader Eric Lilljequist. This is one of those tracks that has grown on me more and more through the years. Unfortunately this side, far superior to the plugged A-side "This Is The Time", was relegated to b-side status and never achieved its hit potential. This was released in late '67.
Before they added violin, got 'heavy" and became a staple of the festival scene of the late '60's/ early '70's (I especially enjoy the story about Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant yanking them off stage when they went overtime, seeing an incredible sunset on the horizon which made for the perfect backdrop to Zep's 1970 set at the UK Bath Festival), Chicago's Flock were another band heavily influenced by the British Invasion. While "I Like You"'s lyrics are incredibly trite, something about the minor-to-major key change within the song adds a very west coast lysergic edge to this otherwise pedestrian number. My words may sound overly critical, but the charm of this song truly outweighs any negatives on my part.
I'll leave you with this real ass kicker of a track from New York's Group therapy. Allegedly, the band (who had worked as journeymen for several years) had a burst of inspiration during a UK tour supporting Moby Grape, where they delivered a devastating live show and were signed by Philips Records. Like a handful of other records from the post-Pepper era ("Susan" by The Buckinghams, "My world Fell Down' from Sagittarius, for example), this record features a bizarre middle section freakout that's undoubtedly inspired by "A Day In The Life".
Until next time- please watch out for the police.
Ah, well, The Flock are a guilty pleasure I must confess. "Store Bought Store Thought" and their awful cover of "Tired of Waiting" are immensely entertaining. Those horns! That operatic falsetto singing in the background...by a dude! That's entertainment.:)
Posted by: AndyAndySeven | February 22, 2013 at 10:19 PM