October 23, 2007

Maybe we'll take a break and wander back to the softer side of psych this week (but I'll revisit the harder stuff don't worry). With all the more upbeat albums that were lost in the flood of an emerging psychedelic movement it should probably come as no surprise that some delicate classics became criminally overlooked. Hell, even Odyssey and Oracle was considered a commercial failure, what chance did lesser known bands have?

	The End - Introspection Produced by the Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman right around the time of Their Satanic Majesties Request, this album showed much promise but never really hit its stride commercially. It is considered a far more important album today than it
ever was at the time of its release. A mix of dreamy Zombies-esque psych pop and slight acid tinged ephemera, the album also features two songs co-written by Wyman and some help on tabla from Charlie Watts. A shame that the band didn't take off, this album shows the beginning of what could have been a fruitful career. Download: [MP3] The End - Shades of Orange [MP3] The End - Loving, Sacred Loving
	Gandalf - Gandalf This New York group produced some delicate baroque-psych tunes that melded the beautiful with the spacey. Again, somewhat overlooked at the time, this album has now become a collectors favorite. The sound falls between the Zombies/ Left Banke
sound and the work that Curt Boetecher was doing with Sagittarius and Millennium. There are a few missteps on the album, but overall it's a wonderful, lilting album of soft pop-psych. Perhaps this wasn't really meant for mass consumption, but it didn't deserve the obscurity it faced upon initial release. Download: [MP3] Gandalf - Tiffany Rings [MP3] Gandalf - Hang On To A Dream

Posted in Folk & Acoustic Music