Two Steps From the Middle Ages
Game Theory
Enigma Records 7 73350-1
1988
I only recently learned of Scott Miller's death last year from a fellow blogger (thanks, reselect.com.) If there was any justice in pop music, Miller would have been on the cover of "Rolling Stone" when he died. I think he was one of the great talents of his generation and his bands Game Theory and the Loud Family made a lot of music that I treasure and which hardly anyone ever heard. Game Theory's album "Lolita Nation" got great reviews but it didn't sell much and as a result became a pricey rarity for power pop aficionados. Miller never got his due, on this record you might notice that it is producer Mitch Easter whose name is on the promotional sticker on the cover of the album. I myself did not discover Game Theory until the 1990s by which time they had broken up. This was the first Game Theory album that I bought (on CD) and later I was lucky enough to find a sealed copy on vinyl. It was the final Game Theory album and some fans dismiss it as being weaker than the others, but I'm not in that camp. Sure it is not as great as "Lolita Nation" but what is? This album thrilled me when I first heard it and I still love it. The album kicks off with the high energy "Room for One More, Honey" which is driven by a big drum beat and jangly guitars in the best power pop tradition. It is sung by Miller and guitarist Donnette Thayer whose voices complement each other well. The song takes place on a plane with a couple immigrating to Asia and wondering what lies ahead. "What the Whole World Wants" sounds very 80s with its big drums and synth sound. Miller's sneering vocal expresses dissatisfaction with everyday life and its expectations. "The Picture of Agreeability" is a short song featuring only piano and synthesizer in which Miller expresses a desire to conform and not be viewed as a disappointment. "Amelia, Have You Lost" is a beautiful song in which Miller describes a disintegrating relationship. His high, sensitive vocal is extremely expressive. The man was a terrific singer with a voice that conveys sadness as well as anyone in alternative rock. There are some lovely guitar lines in this song as well. Next is the wonderfully titled "Rolling with the Moody Girls" which is a supremely catchy and poppy song, one of my favorites on the record. Miller sings about the rich girls of the title who are home from boarding school ready to make trouble. A verse from the song provides the album with its title. "Wyoming" is another one of my favorites, actually one of my favorite Game Theory songs period. It is an evocative bit of jangle pop sung as a duet by Miller and Thayer. The lyrics examine the complex relationship between growth and missing what one leaves behind. I love the line "I know that every night you lie and stare at the ceiling till you start believing it's the sky." Among his many talents, Miller was also an outstanding lyricist. The side ends with the infectious power pop song, "In a Delorean." This fast-tempo tune gets me bopping big time and the chorus is pure pop bliss worthy of the Go-Gos. The lyrics examine youthful folly and learning from one's mistakes. This track is also one of my faves. Side two features more bouncy power pop with "You Drive" which is a song about lost youth and growing up. "Leilani" name checks Donovan, Douglas Fairbanks and Clint Eastwood in a song about a girl living a theatrical, make-believe life. It is a slow jangle pop song with a Beatlesque feel to it. "Wish I Could Stand or Have" expresses conflicted feelings about being dependent on a lover. The song features acoustic guitar prominently in its sound and a raga rock guitar solo that makes it stand out among the 80s style music on the rest of the record. It is another one of the best tracks on the record. The synthesizer and big drums are back for "Don't Entertain Me Twice" which dissects a troubled relationship with a deceitful, thrill-seeking woman. The bitter invective and word play in the lyrics are worthy of Elvis Costello. Organ drives "Throwing the Election" instead of the usual synthesizer much to my approval. It is a brilliant song in which Miller uses an array of metaphors to convey disillusionment with his lot in life and a messed up relationship. Great stuff. The album ends with "Initiations Week" which features just acoustic guitar and a high, quavery vocal from Miller. It is quiet, delicate music in counterpoint to lyrics expressing seething resentment and rebellion. This is such a terrific record, it is smart, charming and endlessly appealing musically. Miller could toss out hooks with seemingly effortless ease and invested his music with genuine emotion. In a crappy musical decade that featured a lot of formulaic music, superficial glitz and crass commercialism, Game Theory's music shines like a beacon with its intelligence, integrity and insight. Recommended to fans of the dB's and Let's Active.
Colour Trip
Ringo Deathstarr
Club AC30 AC308021
2011
This is the debut full-length LP by the Texas band Ringo Deathstarr pressed on avocado-green vinyl. I was initially attracted to the band because of their fabulous name but when I heard some of their music on KXLU, I became an instant fan. They could have called themselves "The Beatles Suck" and I still would have bought this record. The band's mixture of psych and shoegaze is right in my wheelhouse and I play this record a lot. It gets off to a strong start with the noisy "Imagine Hearts." Bassist Alex Gehring has a lovely voice but I can barely hear her over the band's raucous playing. Guitarist Elliott Frazier takes the mike for "Do It Every Time" which is a hard rocking song about breaking up. Gehring and Frazier share vocals on "So High" which is a high energy, poppy song that reminds me of Heavenly and Talulah Gosh. It is one of my favorite tracks on the album. I think it is about getting high on love. "Two Girls" is a dreamy slice of shoegaze reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Frazier croons the psychedelic love song "Kaleidoscope." Side one ends with the aptly named "Day Dreamy" which features another lead vocal from Frazier. Like "Kaleidoscope" it also features some trippy lyrics, but it is a considerably slower tune, being more of a drone. I think this group is more effective at high velocity. The song has its moments though and I particularly like the line "she was just a teardrop, I was just a waste of time." Side two gets off to a thunderous start with the pounding "Tambourine Girl" which is sung by Frazier. The song is a paean to the title character and features a nice slow/heavy versus fast/poppy dynamic that I find very stimulating. It is another one of my favorite cuts. Guitar noise carries the day on "Chloe." I can't understand most of what Frazier is singing about but I gather that he digs the girl of the title. I find Frazier's breathy vocal on "Never Drive" even harder to decipher aside from his desire for someone to kiss him. It is a hard rocking cut that reminds me of the Jesus and Mary Chain. "You Don't Listen" is about a disintegrating relationship due to communication issues. It is another rocker sung by Frazier. The side ends with "Other Things" which is a who-needs-money-when-we-have-each-other type song. The band slows down the tempo from their usual high speed pace and tones down the guitar noise as well enhancing Gehring's languid vocal. The usual knock on Ringo Deathstarr is that they are too derivative and unoriginal. I can't argue with that, but it doesn't bother me. I love the music that inspires them and can never get enough of it. The songwriting is more of a problem for me. I don't mind the banality of the lyrics so much (especially since I can rarely understand them) but I think the band could benefit from stronger melodies and more variety in their music. As much as I enjoy listening to their songs, not many of them stick with me when the record is over. On the plus side, I love their sound and the instrumental textures they produce. This record consistently excites me and gets me bopping. Recommended to fans of Black Tambourine.
Reality...What a Concept
Robin Williams
Casablanca NBLP 7162
1979
A post for the late Robin Williams. I think the three greatest comedians of my youth were Richard Pryor, Steve Martin and Robin Williams. They hit their prime while I was in high school and college and entertained me countless times. What I especially liked about them was that they were not only funny, but they made me think as well. Although I liked some of Williams' movies as well as his television series "Mork and Mindy" I think that scripted entertainment was not Williams' strength even though he was a fine actor. I liked him best in situations where his manic imagination and improvisation skills could run free, namely stand-up comedy and appearances on talk shows. This was Williams' first record album, taken from stand-up performances at the Copacabana in New York City and the Boarding House in San Francisco. Of course records can't capture the visual side of Williams' humor, but his routines still come across pretty well. The record opens with some bantering with the audience before launching into "Nicky Lenin" featuring Williams' Russian impersonation which is one of the funniest routines on the record. It concludes with some rapid fire random jokes including a reference to Fritz Lang's film "M" (which seemingly nobody in the audience gets) followed by his fabulous Martian haiku "red sand between my toes, summer vacation in outer space" as well as some other weird poems which provoke the comment that provides the album's title "wow reality what a concept." Fabulous stuff, Williams at his best. "Pop Goes The Weasel" is an extended routine parodying "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" with Mr. Rogers as a maniac and "Firing Line" with William F. Buckley analyzing "Goldilocks." I don't find it very funny but it is engaging just experiencing the weird tangents Williams' mind goes to as well as hearing his excellent impersonation of Buckley. "Kindergarten of the Stars" pokes fun at privileged rich kids. It is a funnier bit and has more great voices. "A Touch of Fairfax" finds Williams impersonating a crabby, old Jewish man selling girlie magazines and snorting cocaine. It is really funny and over way too soon. Side one ends with "Reverend Earnest Angry" in which Williams portrays a southern preacher. It is mostly lame and goes on way too long, maybe you had to be there to appreciate it. It is funny though when a guy in the audience wants to kiss Williams and he starts riffing on homosexuality. Side two opens with the highlight of the record, the amazing "Shakespeare (A Meltdowner's Nightmare)." Williams asks the audience for some topical subjects to improvise around. Someone suggests Mork which makes Williams react in comical horror. Eventually he gets the topics of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster and Studio 54. Williams proceeds to make up a Shakespearean style play constructed around the topics with lots of funny detours on the way. It is classic Williams, such a brilliant comic mind. "Tank You, Boyce" is a short bit with Lawrence Welk talking jive talk. "Roots People" is an absurdly condensed version of the mini-series "Roots." "Hollywood Casting Session" features a bug auditioning for Kafka's "The Metamorphosis." "Come Inside My Mind" is a crazy trip inside of Williams' mind as he argues with himself about how well his routine is going. Williams' manic bravura performance is another album highlight for me. The album ends with "Grandpa Funk" in which Williams portrays an old man in some post-apocalyptic future reminiscing about the past. It is a rambling routine but consistently entertaining, occasionally even hilarious and concludes with a touching homage to Lord Buckley where he quotes his statement "people they're kind of like flowers, it's been a privilege walking in your garden." For me it is a poignant moment. The privilege was mine as well. I think we were all blessed that Williams chose to walk in our garden and nurture us with his wit and imagination. He was a unique talent and I'm grateful for the time he shared with us. Recommended to surrealists with a sense of humor.
FSM's Sounds & Songs of the Demonstration
Various Artists
FSM-Records FSM 4
1965
This is the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at Cal. In September 1964 the University banned political advocacy by students on University property, an action that was primarily directed at student groups supporting the Civil Rights Movement. The students challenged the ban which resulted in arrests, mass protests and acts of civil disobedience throughout the autumn of 1964 until the University finally gave in and sanctioned political activity on campus which paved the way for the massive anti-Vietnam War rallies later in the decade. I don't remember any of this stuff, but I grew up in the shadow of it living near Berkeley. I first saw the campus as a young teen when my science class in Alameda made the short trip over to Cal for computer classes. I loved the campus and was fascinated by the long-haired graduate students who taught us. When I got to high school, I learned about the 1960s and the student movement and Cal became an obsession with me. It was the only college I applied to and I was thrilled to go there. Of course it was a different place by then, but you could still find traces of the past from the hippies in Peoples Park to the Marxists manning tables near Sather Gate. Professors reminisced about having classes disrupted by tear gas wafting in through the windows. There was even an occasional rally on the steps of Sproul Hall. I participated in a die-in protesting the reinstatement of Selective Service Registration and I have to admit that I felt pretty silly lying on the ground pretending to be dead. The great orator of the Free Speech Movement, Mario Savio, spoke at another rally I attended and lambasted us for being so passive and apathetic. Neither the first nor the last time I heard a baby boomer diss my generation, but alas he was essentially correct. We protested Reagan's policies in Central America and the University's refusal to divest its investments in companies doing business with South Africa, but there wasn't a sense of urgency or the drama of the 1960s. Oh well at least I got a good education and didn't have to dodge riots on my way to class. I picked up this FSM artifact from a record store in Los Angeles. One side of the record features a narrator describing the events of the Free Speech Movement with lots of recorded sound excerpts of seminal events. The other side is a bunch of topical folk songs about the events. I like the spoken word side the best. It opens with Joan Baez addressing students at the Sproul Hall sit-in at the beginning of October 1964. It fades out as she begins to sing Dylan's "With God on Our Side." There is some dramatic coverage of the police attacking the demonstrators followed by a recording of Jack Weinberg being arrested and a terrific speech from Weinberg denouncing the University as a "knowledge factory" that treats the students as "products." There are numerous recordings of the students surrounding the police car holding Weinberg making speeches and singing. This constitutes the bulk of the side. This segment concludes with Mario Savio reading to the protestors the terms of the agreement that resolved the first sit-in. The side abruptly ends with the narrator describing the subsequent breakdown in talks with the administration which lead to the December sit-in at Sproul Hall that resulted in the arrest of 800 protestors. Regrettably there are no sound excerpts for this at all, although some very dramatic ones exist including Savio's famous speech about fighting "the operation of the machine." The narrator briefly mentions the subsequent strike that shut down the University but the record ends with the conflict unresolved. I suppose the record was rushed out to encourage the protestors which makes it an interesting historical artifact, but leaves it unsatisfying as a historical narrative. The music side of the album can't match the drama of the documentary side. The songs are amateurish for the most part aside from Dan Paik's contributions. Paik was a real musician who was in an early line up of the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band and who introduced Barry Melton to Country Joe McDonald resulting in the birth of Country Joe and the Fish. Paik's songs are "Join the FSM," "Man Takin' Names" and "Womb with A View" which he sang with fellow activists Barry Jablon and Susan Chesney. Paik's songs aren't very original but he sings them with a lot of enthusiasm and he has a compelling voice. "Womb with a View" is the best of the trio, it has a lot of drive and funny lyrics. The song pokes fun at the University Administration's paternalistic and patronizing attitude towards student activism. Paik also co-wrote "Lesson of Berkeley" with Richard Schmorleitz who sings the song. Unfortunately Schmorleitz's singing is much weaker than Paik's. The song is lifted from "Streets of Laredo" and features some of the most heavy-handed lyrics on the record. There are two talking blues songs, Dave Mandel's "Battle of Berkeley Talking Blues" and Dave Genesen's "Free Speech Demonstration Talking Blues." Mandel's song is amusing but suffers from his weak singing. Genesen was obviously a big Dylan fan and he shamelessly imitates him throughout the song. His lyrics are clumsy at times but I still enjoy them for their wit and cleverness. Lee Felsenstein's "Put My Name Down" is taken from Woody Guthrie's "Hard Travelin.'" Felsenstein isn't much of a performer and the songs lyrics are often awkward. Felsenstein later became an important computer engineer which was probably a better career choice judging from this song. Richard Kampf's "Hey Mr. Newsman" benefits from Paul Gilbert's frenzied harmonica playing and I like Kampf's drawled vocal which reminds me of Country Joe McDonald. The song puts down the media's biased coverage of the Free Speech activists. The side ends with Kevin Langdon's "Bastion of Truth" which I like the least of all the songs. Langdon has a nice voice, but his song is slow, humorless, and oppressive to me. These songs are so topical that they probably won't be of much appeal to people unfamiliar with Free Speech Movement unless they have a strong appetite for left-wing folk songs. The documentary side will probably appeal to anyone interested in the 1960s. Recommended to fans of early Phil Ochs.
Music From Big Pink
The Band
Capitol ST 2995
1968
I was watching Bob Dylan's show down in Irvine last year which was part of his Americana Tour and got to thinking that there was probably no more anonymous job in music than playing in Dylan's back-up band. Bashful Bob keeps the lights down low when he plays and refuses to allow cameras to broadcast his set. He has his boys all in matching outfits and doesn't bother to introduce them to the audience. I could have run into any of them in the parking lot and would not have had a clue I'd been watching them on stage. I guess playing with Dylan is its own reward. I'd happily do it if I were good enough. Near the end of his set, Dylan brought out Jim James and Jeff Tweedy and they all launched into a moving cover of the Band's "The Weight" which reminded me that there was at least one Dylan back-up band that wasn't anonymous at all. The Band was widely revered in the Bay Area when I was growing up there and that was where they chose to end their career as documented in the film "The Last Waltz." I remember all the hoopla about that show which puzzled me at the time. I did not understand all the fuss about the group, I thought they were kind of boring. The group was celebrated as being a return to the roots of rock when they came out with this album in 1968, a reaction against the excesses and pretensions of the psychedelic era. I on the other hand adored the psychedelic era and disliked the unadorned simplicity of this music. Although I still prefer psychedelic music to roots rock, I've come to admire this album as I've gotten older particularly after I became a fan of country and folk music which informs so much of their sound. My copy of the record is a British import because I have a collector's fetish thing for imports. I should have bought the domestic version though because that is a gatefold cover that has pictures of the band and the pink house that inspired the title of the record. One of these days I'll pick up one. This is my favorite album by the Band. It opens brilliantly with "Tears of Rage" by Dylan and Richard Manuel (uncredited on my copy of the record.) I love the version Dylan cut with the Band on "The Basement Tapes" but this is the definitive version of the song. Manuel's tortured vocal is so powerful as he expresses the "King Lear" inspired lyrics of parent-child discord, so resonant of the generational conflicts that helped fuel the fires of the 1960s. The Band somberly plays the tune like they are performing at a funeral, yet still imbue the music with passion. They pick up the pace for Robbie Robertson's "To Kingdom Come" which features some sizzling guitar work from Robertson. The lyrics feature the Biblical influence that permeates the imagery of the album but the song is largely a secular tale of moral ambiguity and karma. Manuel's "In a Station" is a keyboard driven oblique love song. I have no idea what Robertson's "Caledonia Mission" is about but is sounds pretty nice, a countryish tune with a forceful chorus. Side One concludes with one of the Band's best known songs, Robertson's "The Weight." I have to confess I disliked the tune as a teen. I did not understand what they trying to say in the song and I was repelled by the roughness of the vocals. I'm still not really sure what it is about, but I've come to admire the song as much as most people do. The song offers a series of vignettes of small town Southern life liberally sprinkled with Biblical references that make the song seem deeper than it really is. The powerful Gospel influenced music adds to the gravity of the song as well. It is a great performance, but my favorite version of the song is the one by Aretha Franklin on "This Girl's in Love with You." Side two opens with Manuel's "We Can Talk" which features Manuel, Danko and Levon Helms sharing the vocal. The song sounds silly to me but it does benefit from a strong rhythm and blues style melody. "Long Black Veil" was originally a hit for Lefty Frizzell who has my favorite version of it. I'm not a big fan of the song, I think it is maudlin and contrived. It is sung from the point of view of a dead guy who preferred to be executed rather than reveal that he'd been making love to his best friend's wife at the time of the murder he was convicted of. The Band solemnly play the song at a lethargic pace that makes it even more oppressive to listen to. Robertson's "Chest Fever" opens with a fancy organ solo that sounds like prog rock but fortunately that leads into a heavy riff that drives one of the hardest rocking songs on the album. The song is about a guy with woman trouble. The energy level plummets with Manuel's "Lonesome Suzie" which is a glacially slow ballad about an unhappy woman who needs a friend. Manuel's plaintive vocal is the only thing I like about the song. There are lots of covers of "This Wheel's on Fire" (listed as "Wheels on Fire" on the sleeve of my album) but this one is my favorite. The song was written by Dylan and Rick Danko (who is uncredited on my record) and dates back to "The Basement Tapes" sessions. Danko's vocal gives the song a feeling of urgency supported by the group's robust playing. The lyrics are typically full of the evocative language and imagery of Dylan in the 1960s. The record concludes with Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" which in the hands of the Band sounds like a gospel song. Manuel's high quavery vocal is very effective and it gives the album an emotional finish. In retrospect it was not a good omen for the future of the Band that three of the four best songs on the record were written by Bob Dylan. I feel like they did their best work collaborating with Dylan. On their own, their songwriting was their weakness. They could play and sing great, but aside from their follow-up album "The Band," their albums were hampered by pedestrian songwriting, especially as Manuel's output diminished. However on this album, the group is terrific. The record is loaded with good songs and strong performances. This album has aged very well, it still sounds like a classic album, heartfelt, authentic and full of integrity. Recommended to fans of Wilco and Ryan Adams.
Le Pop: Les Filles
Various Artists
Le Pop Musik LPM 20-1
2008
I am a big fan of French pop in the 1960s and early 1970s but I haven't kept up with their music scene since then. What I've seen in French films and the occasional TV show (my wife used to subscribe to a French cable channel) did not make me think I was missing much. However when I stumbled across a bargain-priced copy of this album, I picked it up to see what was going on over there. It is part of a series of albums issued by a German record company that survey contemporary French music. This one offers a generous sampling of 16 tracks focusing on female singers. I'd only heard of two of them prior to buying this album - Coralie Clément who I know as an actress and Mélanie Pain who I know from the group Nouvelle Vague which I am a fan of. My favorite track is Poney Express' "Paris de Loin" which is pure indie rock driven by a great bass riff. It has a lot of pop appeal and it gets me bopping. The group is a duo featuring Ana Berthe on vocals and Robin Feix on bass. My other favorite song is Fredda's "Barry White" which features a slinky vocal over a hypnotic melody as she recalls her youth dancing in discos in Marseille. I also really like Barbara Carlotti's "Mademoiselle Opossum" which benefits from a propulsive rhythm track and some sensuous horn work that supports her alluring vocal. Coralie Clément sweetly croons "So Long Babylone" over a chunky rhythm track and a charming ukelele riff. The song was written and produced by her brother, Benjamin Biolay. Mélanie Pain's "Celles de Mes 20 Ans" sounds nothing like her work with Nouvelle Vague. It is poppy folk-rock that her breathy vocal invests with feeling. "Je Ne Te Quitterais Jamais" by a duo called Doris Park is a lovely, atmospheric song delicately sung in French and English by the group's lead singer, Maria Törnqvist who is Swedish. "Cupide et Stupide" by Austine is charming twee indie pop with a jaunty melody that makes me happy as I listen to it. The liner notes compare the song to Belle and Sebastian, but I think Camera Obscura is a more accurate comparison. "Les Hasrads" by C++ is perhaps the most interesting track on the record being a swinging smorgasbord of 60s pop and synth pop driven by surf guitar and proggy mellotron over which Charlotte Gérand coolly sings. Several tracks sound like traditional French pop most notably Loane's waltz-like "Petit Bonheur," Maud Lübeck's low-key "Le Parapluie," Marianne Feder's jazzy "Toi Mon Indien" and best of all Marianne Dissard's "Les Draps Sourds" which mixes Chanson with Western Swing, it sounds like Edith Piaf performing with Bob Wills. She seems to be singing about an orgy, I wish my French was better, ha-ha. There are a few duds on the album. Constance Amiot's "Clash Dans le Tempo" is mild-mannered French hip-hop that bores me. Julie B. Bonnie's "Bonjour Monsieur" is a collaboration with Kid Loco. It has a strong beat but I find it monotonous. Françoiz Breut has a beautiful voice but her New Age-ish "2013" is tedious to me. If you really want to hear what she is capable of, check out her great 2001 song "Si Tu Disais." According to the liner notes, Jeanne Cherhal's "Si Tu Reviens J'Annule Tout" is "scandalous" because it is based on a message that Nicholas Sarkozy sent to his ex-wife prior to marrying Carla Bruni. Maybe you have to be French to find that shocking, I just hear a dull ballad. Aside from Poney Express' track there is nothing on here that knocks my socks off, but I like just about every song although not enough to run out and buy a bunch of French records. It rarely rocks, but it rolls pretty well and has a nice mellow vibe to it. Recommended to Francophiles who dig Isobel Campbell and El Perro del Mar.
The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes
Jake Holmes
Tower T 5079
1967
I first heard Holmes' most famous song (if you don't count his commercial jingles and I don't) on "Live Yardbirds." That song "Dazed and Confused" was retitled "I'm Confused" by the Yardbirds for their epic workout on the song which is one of the highlights of their album. If I had been a Led Zeppelin fan I probably would have heard it first on their debut album which has always been a lot easier to find than "Live Yardbirds." On the Yardbirds' record the song carried no composition credit but when Led Zeppelin released it it had Jimmy Page's name on it. Sure he monkeyed around with it, but that is still plagiarism. Holmes got a raw deal from Page and I'd say he got a raw deal from music history as well. He ought to be remembered for more than being a footnote in Led Zeppelin's career. This album is worthy of recognition in its own right. Holmes displays his talent right from the first track on this record, "Lonely." Holmes is accompanied throughout the album by Ted Irwin on electric guitar and Rick Randall on bass and on this track the two really shine. Irwin's frenzied raga-style runs on top of Randall's pulsing bass is tremendously exciting and gives this jazzy song great intensity and power. It is my favorite track after "Dazed and Confused." "Did You Know" is a more conventional mellow love song although it still has a slightly jazzy feeling reminiscent of Nick Drake. Holmes ups the tempo for the rocking "She Belonged to Me" in which he describes a girlfriend. Irwin's high velocity strumming propels the song nicely. "Too Long" is a moody song about two friends who have grown apart. The delicate interplay between the two guitars and the melodic bass lines gives the song a lot of atmosphere and feeling. Side one concludes with "Genuine Imitation Life" which was improbably covered by the Four Seasons a few years later. The song is a grim diatribe about hypocrisy, selfishness and the inability of people to relate to each other. I find the song kind of pretentious although it is interesting and the music is first rate especially Randall's bass work. Side two opens with "Dazed and Confused." I appreciate the thunder and energy that Page brought to his bombastic interpretation of the song with both the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, but I think Holmes' more subdued take of the song serves it best. The narrator of the song is dazed and confused because of a love affair and the uncertainty he feels about his relationship. Randall's descending bass riff drives the song and Irwin has an exciting psychedelic-style guitar solo. The ending of the song with Holmes' crazed strumming of his acoustic guitar on top of the throbbing bass and clanging electric guitar chords is quite thrilling and ends way too soon for my liking. Holmes shifts gears dramatically with "Penny's" which is a low-key jazzy tune with a little scat singing from Holmes in between the verses about the woman of the title. The jazz sound is even stronger on "Hard to Keep My Mind On You" which was influenced by Dave Brubeck according to Holmes in the liner notes. It has a fast tempo in 5/4 time and is a swinging tune in which the singer tells his girlfriend how easily he gets distracted from her when he sees other girls. I imagine that conversation probably didn't go very well, but you'd never know it from the sunny nature of the tune. "Wish I Was Anywhere Else" has a slight chamber pop sound to it with its fast paced baroque style guitar runs. The song is about being forced to engage in a conversation with a person you can't relate to. The album concludes with "Signs of Age" which is about the relativity of age depending on one's perspective. He speaks much of the song rather than singing it and the music is laid-back and meandering. Easily my least favorite track on the album. It is a disappointing finish but it does not diminish the impact of the album very much. I love the personal and introspective quality of the lyrics and the music is consistently engaging and stimulating. 1967 was such a fantastic year for music, it is easy to see why this album was overlooked at the time but it deserved a better fate. Its intelligence and integrity should appeal to anyone who values personal expression and individuality in pop music. Recommended to fans of Tim Buckley.
