The American Breed
Acta ST 91514
1968
The third album by the American Breed. Curiously the guys on the cover seem to be wearing suits in the colors of the title except for the guy in the blue Nehru jacket who should be wearing scarlet. The title apparently refers to the four seasons judging from the liner notes. Short self-indulgent songs with those titles bookend each side of the record. It suggests that this is some sort of concept album, but aside from those 4 little songs, none of the rest of the record strays far from the usual romantic cliches that fuel commercial pop music with the exception of the moronic "Music to Think By" which is anything but that. Much of this is too sappy for my taste but there are some good tunes. My favorite one is "Cool It (We're Not Alone)" which has a driving beat and a nice sunshine pop feel that reminds me of the Turtles. "Ready, Willing and Able," "Master of My Fate" and "Take Me If You Want Me" are all nice commercial pop songs with catchy hooks, the latter song is the only song penned by the group members and shows some modest promise. There is also a useless cover of the Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me." This album produced no hit singles and is basically pedestrian pop-rock distinguished only by extensive use of horns. I find it mostly pleasant but far from memorable. Recommended to fans of the Buckinghams or the New Colony Six when they were on Mercury records.
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