*****Ultimate Spinach -(S/T U.S 1967)- ESSENTIAL LISTENING!!******

If you like this, you may like this Bosstown band too!! (see ITEM #2 on page)

The Ultimate Spinach was a psychedelic band originally from Boston, composed of keyboardist/guitarist Ian Bruce-Douglas and singer Barbara Hudson.
"Ultimate Spinach" is the 1967 self-titled debut album by Ultimate Spinach and was released on the MGM Records label.The phenomenon of a "Boston Sound", (whose other top acts included The Beacon Street Union, also on MGM), was more a publicity stunt than a legitimate artistic movement, and the Bruce-Douglas version of the band tends to be remembered for its name.
On "Ultimate Spinach" the standout cuts are "(Ballad of) The Hip Death Goddess", with an instrumental interval for theremin (an early electronic instrument), feedback and reverberation, and the psychoanalytic folk-blues "Ego Trip" , the 4-part suite "Sacrifice of the Moon" as well as "Your Head Is Reeling" and the Frank Zappa-esque "Plastic Raincoats".
Their first album was reviled by the critics as phoney, now 40 years later it's getting some respect as an acid classic. In 2008 the English glossy magazine Classic Rock listed the 42 Greatest Psychedelic Albums. This album was Number 36, in there with Sgt Peppers, Axis Bold as Love, Disraeli Gears, etc.
Members:
Ian Bruce-Douglas: vocals, electric piano,organ,theremin,sitar
Barbara Hudson: vocals,electric guitar,kazoo
Keith Lahteinen: vocals,drums,tabla
Richard Nese: bass
Geoffrey Withrop: vocals,lead guitar,electric sitar

1.Ego Trip
2.Sacrifice of the Moon [In Four Parts]
3.Plastic Raincoating/Hung Up Minds
4.(Ballad of) The Hip Death Goddess
5.Your Head Is Reeling
6.Dove In Hawk's Clothing
7.Baroque #1
8.Funny Freak Parade
9.Pamela

funny freak parade

The Beacon Street Union -The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union (U.S 1968) -SUPERB!!

This group, part of the 'Bosstown Sound', were energetically promoted in 1968. Their debut album, though often pretentious, was a mini-psychedelic masterpiece. The material, a mixture of acid rock, blues, and ballads, was usually original and often interesting. The album is recommended it you are able to obtain a copy.
Their second effort "The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens" continued in a similar vein, but contained the orchestrated "Clown's Overture" and "Angus Of Aberdeen".
Either or both albums are well worth checking out and both met with some commercial success.

Track Listings:
1. Recitation/My Love Is 4:07
2. Beautiful Delilah 2:09
3. Sportin' Life 3:09
4. Four Hundred and Five 2:09
5. Mystic Mourning 5:58
6. Sadie Said No 2:46
7. Speed Kills 1:55
8. Blue Avenue 2:50
9. South End Incident 3:53
10. Green Destroys the Gold 4:00
11. The Prophet 4:33

http://www.mediafire.com/?z2abv8n3wdjp96t

*** Phluph (s/t) U.S Psych 1968 -EXCELLENT FUN!! ***

Psychedelic Boston-based band who cut a single brilliant album in 1968.

Hailing from Boston in the late sixties, Phluph recorded their one and only album for the Verve record label before drifting off into obscurity. One wonders why such a talented group never achieved success in the music industry. Perhaps Verve, being a predominatly jazz based label, did not know how to promote the band properly. Or perhaps it was because Phluph were part of the ill-fated "Bosstown Sound" scene which caused such a furore in the music industry at that time.

The Scene That Never Was?
The “Bosstown Sound” was started as a publicity campaign by producer Alan Lorber, aiming to market the various Boston based psychedelic bands on MGM’s books (The Ultimate Spinach, Eden’s Children etc) as being part of one singular movement. The idea was to rival the burgeoning San Francisco scene as well as the Mersey-Beat sound that was being imported from across the Atlantic. Unfortunately the rock critics and the underground took umbrage at what they deemed was a shallow corporate attempt at selling the counter-culture back to them as a package.

There was strong anti-establishment feeling at this time because of the Vietnam War, and this helped to fuel the fire against the Boston scene. This coupled with the subsequent pressure from those on the West Coast who declaimed them as frauds, meant that many of the bands became black- listed, never getting the sales figures that they deserved.


NOT JUST A BIT OF PHLUPH!!

***WHITE NOISE -AN ELECTRIC STORM -UK 1969 -UNMISSABLE CLASSIC ELECTRONIC PSYCH WEIRDNESS!! ***

An Electric Storm is justly renowned among techno boffins as one of the first albums to fuse pop and electronic music before the advent of the Moog synthesizer. But you don't have to be versed in the language of sine waves and oscillators to enjoy this mostly delightful and hugely inventive album. For although the White Noise were almost exclusively composed of virtuoso knob twiddlers and tape splicers moonlighting from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, luckily they were no slouches when it came to penning a decent tune. There's also anarchic humor at play on the manic "Here Come the Fleas," which contains more edits in its two minutes than the whole of Sgt. Pepper's.Yet it's the retro-futurist textures that still grab the ear most. These are sounds that will be familiar to anyone who knows the soundtrack of Forbidden Planet or the early series of Doctor Who, but they had never before been deployed in the service of pop music, nor have they since. And whereas the Moog would supplant all of these primitive, time-consuming techniques of sound generation and manipulation within the year, it also destroyed much of electronic music's spirit of adventure in the process. How could you boldly go where no man had gone before when your sound universe was suddenly overlaid by tram lines and route maps? So although most of the songs that make up the first half of An Electric Storm are pretty much your standard-issue polite British psychedelia (the somewhat embarrassing United States of America-style orgy of "My Game of Loving" aside), the way they're dressed up still sounds innovative decades later. Sometimes songs dissolve into bleeps, whooshes, and gurgles that hurtle between your speakers, but compared to the extended guitar and organ solos that were common currency at the time, they are the very essence of restraint. That said, restraint was put to the sword on the final two tracks, the 12-minute "The Visitations" and the seven-minute "The Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell." The former is a decidedly spooky "Leader of the Pack"-style drama with a supernatural twist. The biker, having departed this life, attempts to make one last attempt to cross over and console his grieving beloved, only to fall agonizingly short. If you can suspend your disbelief -- and persuade yourself that the biker's departing spirit doesn't sound like a cappuccino machine -- it's spine-tingling stuff that you won't dare listen to with the lights off. Which is more than can be said for the concluding track, a would-be satanic jam session botched together in a hurry to meet Island's suddenly imposed deadline.


1. "Love Without Sound" – 2:57
2. "My Game Of Loving" – 3:38
3. "Here Come The Fleas" – 2:31
4. "Firebird" – 2:43
5. "Your Hidden Dreams" – 4:25
6. "The Visitations" – 11:45
7. "The Black Mass: An Electric Storm In Hell" – 7:04


AAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!

Morgen (u.s S/T 1969) FANTASTIC COMIC HORROR PSYCH!

Review from allmusic, forcedexposure.com)

From New York, this short lived band evolved around the namesake guitarist Steve Morgen.

A foreboding bass riff and staccato drumming introduce ‘Welcome To The Void’, and for the next thirty-eight minutes one is hurled headlong into a vortex of dual-guitar overload, lyrically woven with romantic and Victorian imagery residing on a tab of microdot.

There are some cool passages here, like the sudden rush of Jimi Hendrix/the Who-hybrid notes in “Love” as a jungle beat throbs in the background, and the lasciviously fey vocal and sweetly fuzzy guitar sustains in “Of Dreams.” “Eternity in Between” does make it clear Morgen was a big Who fan, with its lifts of the chord sequence from “Underture” and the stuttering distortion of “My Generation”.

Line-up:
- Steve Morgen / vocals, guitar
- Rennie Genossa / bass
- Bob Maiman / drums
- Barry Stock / rhythm guitar

Track List:
01. Welcome To The Void – 4:47
02. Of Dreams – 5:37
03. Beggin Your Pardon (Miss Joan) – 4:49
04. Eternity In Between – 5:06
05. Purple – 4:11
06. She’s The Nitetime – 3:30
07. Love – 10:53

http://www.mediafire.com/?bdsh1ch7tj4ajiv

***C.A. Quintet -Trip Thru Hell (u.s 1968) FANTASTICALLY CREEPY MASTERPIECE! DON'T MISS! ***

There's not much to compare this album to, even in the weird musical climate of 1968 -- there are echoes of Country Joe The Fish and the Doors, perhaps, in the mysterioso organ and morbid imagery. Not that Ken Erwin was in the same league as Jim Morrison, or even Country Joe, as a songwriter. But (with the exception of the brassy good-time cut "Underground Music"), psychedelia was very rarely this dementedly gloomy. Occasional pealing bells and curdling screams (to say nothing of the Boschlike cover art) add to the foggy underworld menace. Reissued without authorization in Europe in the 1980s, the 1995 domestic CD is a first-class job: the 12 bonus cuts gather some rare non-LP singles, alternate takes, and previously unreleased songs, and the liner notes feature extensive interviews with Ken Erwin and engineer Steve Longman.
- Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide




Tracks :


1.Trip Thru Hell (Part 1)
2.Colorado Mourning
3.Cold Spider
4.Underground Music
5.Sleepy Hollow Lane
6.Smooth as Silk
7.Trip Thru Hell (Part 2)
8.Dr. Of Philosophy
9.Blow to My Soul
10.Ain't No Doubt About It - (previously unreleased)
11.Mickey's Monkey
12.I Put a Spell on You - (previously unreleased)
13.I Shot the King - (previously unreleased)
14.Fortune Teller's Lie - (previously unreleased)
15.Sadie Lavone - (previously unreleased)
16.Bury Me in a Marijuana Field - (previously unreleased)
17.Colorado Mourning - (alternate version)
18.Underground Music - (alternate version)
19.Smooth as Silk - (alternate version)

http://www.mediafire.com/?yqly8w0blp4coak

The Spoils of War (Self-titled -1969) -FANTASTIC ELECTRONIC TRIPPY PSYCH RARITY!!

Little is known about this late-'60s psychedelic group, except that they were dominated by James Cuomo, who wrote all of the material in addition to producing it. From Urbana, IL, they recorded an album's worth of unreleased tracks in 1969 which finally saw the light of day as a very limited edition German LP in 1998. The record is interesting as an early example of a rock band making heavy use of experimental electronics. These augment, and occasionally overwhelm, Cuomo's rather fragile and spooky songs, which are often real songs, despite the overlays of and detours into effects and noise. It's somewhat in the style of the United States of America or Fifty Foot Hose, although it certainly isn't as excellent and innovative as the U.S.A., nor as conversant with the potential of electronic equipment as Fifty Foot Hose. Worth hearing, though, if you're into that vibe, Cuomo sometimes exhibiting a spacier and folkier sensibility than his counterparts did. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide


AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEWS:

REVIEW ONE
-You know from the very start you're in for something extraordinary. With its wailing feedback, layers of spaced out effects and weird-as-weird-can-get lyrics, it's easy to describe The Spoils of War as a psych outfit, and in many ways they are. To do so, however, would short change them. Psychedelic is chiefly a phenomenon of the 1960s and this album was recorded in that headiest of eras, but it sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday. We've all got a lot of catching up to do, to keep up with what these guys were doing 40-odd years ago! There are strong jazz and folk influences, as well as gestures to the modal arrangements of the more experimental classical composers. But in truth, there is no adequate way of describing this recording, due to an absence of referents. It really is that original. Perhaps I should just call it Art and leave it at that. I think that'd be doing it an injustice, though, as The Spoils of War are ultimately listenable. No matter how avant garde they get there is always structure and melody. The group were a short-lived entity, only producing one studio album, and it's hard to determine if the extremely high quality is due to brilliant musicianship, intuitive genius or inspired production. All three are present in abundance here. Add to that a cover that is pure sci-fi nightmare kitsch and you've got something special indeed.

REVIEW TWO
-this is truly one of the greatest pieces of music i ever heard! so freaked out and/but on the other hand it all comes together with harmonies and sections, raw recording,(sounding like it was done in a bathroom...) man this is just wonderful..! i really cant say how happy i am after hearing this! it was missing from my collection for a while, i found the lp and now got a mint copy on disc, if you are lookin to expand your head/collection then get this.. or even if you look for the next thing, this will come as a great surprise..

This has not aged at all. super weird and it hits all the right tones. get freaked and get your head laid! if i only ever had to have one piece of music with me then this would be it.. i love to freak y'see!!

this is a personal lp, it will take you there! i thoroughly recommend this piece of genius!

Track Listings
1. Walk In Walk Out
2. First Love Last Love
3. E-Thing
4. You're The Girl
5. Now Is Made In America
6. Rit Yellow Of The Sun
7. Crimson Uniform/Jena's Score
8. Record Rejects/After The Party/Lonesome Is A Truer Word/End
9. What Happens Now/Now Is Made In America/Henry T. Joseph
10. Void Of Mystery/Greyness Moves In Quietly
11. Susan Never Smiles
12. Ring Magic Telephone Ring
13. Victoria Falls

PART ONE -ENJOY!
PART TWO -ENJOY!

The Head Shop (Self-titled) 1969 us Psych

Formed: New York City, NY, United States

Members:
- Danny Prosseda, Guitar
- Drew Sbordone, Bass
- Joe Siano, Vocals
- Jesse Luca, Drums, Percussion
- Milan, Rhythm Guitars and Screams
- Geoff Wright, Hammond/Farfisa Organ, Fuzz Bass (on "Heaven Here We Come" and "I Feel Love Comin' On")
- Maxim, Violin Solo (on "Prophecy")
- Larry Coryell, Guest Musician, Guitar Solo (on "I Feel Love Comin' On")

Side 1:
01. Head Shop (Milan/Maxim/R. Craig), 2:56
02. Heaven Here We Come (Milan), 2:40
03. Sunny (Bobby Hebb), 3:11
04. Listen with a Third Ear (Milan/Maxim), 2:30
05. Opera in the Year 4000 (Milan), 4:25
a. Where Have All the People Gone (Milan)
b. Yesterday (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Side 2:
01. Revolution (John Lennon/Paul McCartney), 2:28
02. I Feel Love Comin' On (Milan), 6:20
03. Prophecy (Maxim/Milan), 2:17
04. Infinity (Milan), 4:45

ALBUM:1(A) THE HEAD SHOP (Epic BN 26476) 1969
NB: (1) has been reissued on CD.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Along with many other one-off major label psych albums such as Gandalf (Capitol Records) and Savage Resurrection (Mercury Records), the sole album by the Head Shop has become a major collector’s item in recent years. As with Gandalf and Savage Resurrection, the attention given to the Head Shop’s album is fully justified by the excellent psychedelic rock music contained therein. The album’s opening cut, “Head Shop”, begins with heavily distorted guitar and an insane scream. This is an appropriate introduction to a heavy, heady barrage of psychedelia. The group’s style is heavy rock, but it is driven by mind-melting fuzztone guitar rather than the more smoothly distorted guitar sound generally featured in heavy rock of the era (see Blue Cheer and Frijid Pink).
Thus, the Head Shop have created a demented fusion of ’69 era heavy psych and ’66 era garage punk. This makes for some very interesting original songs and cover tunes. The group’s version of “Sunny” is, appropriately enough, totally dark and creepy, driven by funeral-style organ work. Likewise, if you thought the Beatles original version of “Revolution” was heavy, wait till you hear the over-the-top fuzztone version by the Head Shop. The originals are perhaps even more interesting, including the aforementioned “Head Shop”, “Heaven Here We Come”, and the killer “Infinity”. Another of their songs, “Opera in the Year 4000” is a bizarre medly of an uncharacteristically “straight” original tune “Where Have All the People Gone” melded with another Beatles song, “Yesterday.” All in all, this is a most excellent and unusual album of heavy psychedelic rock.
Now that the LP has been reissued on CD by Synton Records, this fine album is finally much more widely available than the extremely scarce original 1969 issue. This is definitely a recommended release for psych fans.
~ Reviewer: Kurt Sampsel (December,2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?m5klr953lt2gr5d

The Freak Scene -Psychedelic Psoul (1967) BRILLIANT FREAKY PSYCH NONSENSE!

A great little record of hippie freakout almost like some of the weird bits you'd find in the ESP catalog from some of the sub-Fugs rock groups of the time! The songs have a very trippy nature, mixed with a bit of politics ("draft beer, not students") and the album's produced with lots of cool effects that make the guitars go wild, the voices sound spooky, and which introduce some sound snippets and a small bit of electronics! The whole thing's definitely a "Freak Scene" overall the kind of tripped out album that somehow sounds even better today than it did a few decades back.
The album is virtually a second Deep LP and almost identical in style...[net]

1 A Million Grains of Sand
2 "When In Course Of Human Events" (Draft Beer, Not Students) / Interpolation: We Shall Overcome
3 Rose of Smiling Faces
4 Behind the Mind
5 The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space
6 Butterfly Dream
7 My Rainbow Life
8 The Center of My Soul
9 Watered Down Soul
10 Red Roses Will Weep
11 Mind Bender
12 Grok!

FREAK OUT

*****Bjork - Selmasongs -from her fantastic sad musical '"Dancer in the Dark" (DON'T MISS!!)*****

**Psychelatte says: This is really a plug for her film, the album doesn't mean much without seeing the powerfully sad film the songs come from, so I IMPLORE YOU to see it! (There is a link below to watch the entire film on Youtube). It is so beautiful & amazing, and so is the music.

"I've Seen it All"

"Scatterheart"

(If you prefer the movie versions of the above 2 songs, (which I do), then
you can download the Free Youtube to MP3
Converter, which will extract the audio from the video for a perfect mp3!)

This is the amazing sad musical starring Bjork as a poor Czech factory girl, in love with musicals, who's going blind, working all hours to pay for an operation for her son so that he doesn't have to go blind too.

You can watch the whole film now on Youtube, in 14 parts, starting from here:

Dancer in the Dark, part 1/14

Youtube viewer reactions:

-No matter how many times I see this scene, I still cry. Brilliantly acted and very powerful NeoEvangelion (2 years ago)
I'm hysterically crying...there are tears all over my keyboard. I feel so sad and sort of nauseous...this is such an amazing movie. I can't even describe it... princedepressia (2 years ago)

-Oh god I can't stop crying... I just can´t Björk is such a great actress. I can feel the pain like I actually know her character personally. Thank you so much for uploading the movie ChildofFangorn (2 years ago)

-I've _never_ cryed this much for a movie before in my entire life. So sad .AinaaAzhar (2 years ago)

-It's weird. I can't cry. I'm shaken and nauseous and shaken and... purtiepoppies (2 years ago)

-OMG I'm bawling my eyes out right now. That was the saddest film I have ever seen. It was so amazing though. joyoust (2 years ago)

-I saw this years ago and just found it last week. But, I could not bring myself to see it again until tonight. It is an amazing performance from Bjork, her music is beautiful, and as she has decided not to make another film, we've lost
a excellent actress. I cannot think of another film as devastating as this. I don't think I can watch it again. maxyboy44 i --

just whatched the whole movie, thanks so much for uploading.

-first time i saw this movie i cried like somekind of*tearmachine*...which
means that it is a freaking good movie," cephalicus/

-i watched this moving knowing only how much i love Bjork- other then that, i didn't know anything about it. It wrecked me for about 3 days. The most brilliantly heartbreaking thing i've ever encountered.Bjork is magical." codifiedmatter


01. Overture
02. Cvalda [W catherine Deneuve
03. I've Seen It All [W. Thom Yorke]
04. Scatterheart
05. In The Musicals
06. 107 Steps [W siobhan Fallon]
07. New World [W Massive Attack]

"Selmasongs

***Halfnelson (pre-Sparks) A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing -very rare '68 charming, whimsical Psych-pop Demo album, excellent fun!***

**Psychelatte says: this is a super early psych-pop bit of fun from the U.S band that later became the well-known glam-rock legends called Sparks. This demo version of the album is DIFFERENT from the official Halfnelson release a few years later, with completely different (and in my opinion, better) songs. If you like Syd Barrett sounding songs (with the occasional operatic tendency!) Plus lots of swirling organ, you'll LOVE this! I can't see that it has been featured on any other blogspots offering Psych, so I'm very happy to oblige! xxx

Ron Mael Russ Mael and Earle Mankey made quite a lot of home recordings during the late 60's and the most famous one was the Halfnelson's "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing" demo (not to be confused with the second official Sparks' Bearsville album). The band was Russell Mae(vocals & bass), Ron Mael (keyboards), Earle Mankey (guitar & vocals) All the songs had been written by the Maels. There are two songs on this demo, which were early versions of songs : " The War" available later on the official Bearsville release. The demo album was produced by Earle Mankey who also sang " Mountain". More info here. The demo version of the album was packaged in a large rectangular box resembling a restaurant checkbook. A hand-written bill for " $100,000 For One Halfnelson Album" was scrawled on the checkbook. Inside were photos, a bio, and the vinyl disc.

Songs :
Chile Farm Farney /
Johnny's Adventure /
Roger / Arts & Crafts Spectacular
/ Landlady /
The Animals At Jason's Bar & Grill /
Big Rock Candy Mountain /
Millie /
Saccharin And The War /
Join The Firm /
Jane Church /
The Factory

60's Sparks!:-D

Krokodil -Swamp (1970 Krautrock)(apparently)-Very majestic & melodic anyway!!

Tracklisting:

1. Get Your Personality Together
2. Light Of Day
3. Sunlights Beautiful Daughter
4. Tell Me What You Want (Tell Tale)
5. Blue Flashing Circle
6. Snow White And Blue
7. Human Bondage
8. Gipsy Man - Bonus Track
9. That's What I Do - Bonus Track
10. Stehaufmadchen (Trailer) - Bonus Track

Swamp

*****The Eyes of Blue -In Fields of Ardath- (1969) WONDERFUL PSYCH ALBUM, GREAT TUNES AND ATMOSPHERE!!***

**Psychelatte says: I LOVE THIS PSYCH ALBUM!! I've played it non-stop since I found it. Much more interesting and spellbinding than their first. Please give it a try!!

Wyndham Rees was eased out of the Eyes Of Blue before the spring of 1969, having reputedly contributed little to the band. He was present during most of the Chappell Studios early recording sessions for the group's second album 'In Fields Of Ardath' but was gone by the time they gravitated to more modern eight-track facilities. It was released in November and is generally regarded as the more successful and 'progressive' of the two albums released under the Eyes Of Blue name. Quincy Jones supplied the sleevenotes this time, and commented; "All the ethnic qualities which I had recalled about the people of Wales were manifest in that tape. There was a native sensuality in their playing. Eyes Of Blue was musically curious." The record has also been described as having "Pop, R&B jazz, classical, psychedelic and Eastern influences." A fair sprinkling one must admit."

Tracklist:
(side 1)
01. Merry Go Round (From the Film Toy-Grabbers) (Ritchie Francis) 9:13
02. The Light We See (Gary Pickford-Hopkins) 2:19
03. Souvenirs (Tribute To Django) (instrumental) (Django Reinhard – S. Grapelly) 2:49
04. Ardath (John Weathers) 2:45
05. Spanish Blues (Graham Bond) 4:06

(side 2)
01. Door (The Child That Is Born On the Sabbath Day) (Rhil Ryan) 6:53
02. Little Bird (Ritchie Francis) 2:42
03. After the War (Gary Pickford-Hopkins) 3:40
04. Extra Hour (Phil Ryan) 2:40
05. Chances (Ritchie Francis) 3:06

FANTASTIC!!

The Eyes of Blue -Crossroads of Time (U.K 1968)

Biography:

By rights, The Eyes of Blue should have an exalted place in the pantheon of art-rock and progressive rock bands. They were around before almost all of them, and doing film work and making music in a jazz-rock fusion idiom before the latter had been understood, and they were signed to two major labels in succession, Deram and Mercury. Instead, except for drummer John Weathers, who later joined Gentle Giant, The Eyes Of Blue are scarcely remembered at all. The Eyes of Blue started out as a jazz and rhythm-and-blues oriented outfit (Graham Bond wrote the notes for their first album), doing songs in that vein as well as less well suited material such as "Yesterday." The group was initially signed to Decca's progressive rock imprint Deram Records, and cut a series of excellent but neglected singles, and then moved to Mercury, where they concentrated on albums, enjoying greatest musical if not commercial success. They were taken seriously enough to collaborate with Quincy Jones on the score of the movie Toy Grabbers, and the group actually managed to appear in the movie Connecting Rooms. Their early strength lay in r&b-based material, including Bond's "Love Is The Law," "Crossroads of Time," and "7 and 7 Is," but even on their first album The Eyes of Blue showed some Eastern influences Their second album had some tracks off of the first film score as well as one Graham Bond song, but is more experimental, with extended instrumental passages and some classical music influences. In late 1968, The Eyes of Blue backed Buzzy Linhart on a self-titled album. The Eyes of Blue rated a supporting act spot at the Marquee Club in London in 1969, but the group's days were numbered, given the lack of their success as a recording outfit. Phil Ryan later played in Man, and John Weathers joined Pete Brown and Piblokto! on the Harvest label, before jumping to Gentle Giant.
~ By Bruce Eder, All Music Guide.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Eyes debut album 'Crossroads Of Time' was eventually released early in 1969. It included two Graham Bond R&B songs (Bond also wrote the sleevenotes) 'Love Is The Law' and 'Crossroads Of Time' which was especially written for the band. It also included an interesting version of Love's '7 + 7 Is' while The Beatles' 'Yesterday' is given a treatment suggesting something of a jazz hymn. Ritchie Francis claimed the remaining songs of which 'Inspiration For A New Day' is noteworthy and 'Prodigal Son', which features some psychedelic guitar work from Ray 'Taff' Williams. 'Largo' is an arrangement of the Handel piece by Ritchie Francis and he claimed this was indicative of the way the group were going.
Following on from their earlier collaboration with Buzzy Linhart, the Eyes also worked with Quincy Jones when they contributed to the unreleased 'Toy Grabbers' film score. Later they also appeared in the film 'Connecting Rooms' as well as playing on the soundtrack, but the film wasn't given a general release in the UK.

Formed: Neith, United Kingdom

Members:
*Ritchie Francis (guitar),
*Gary Pickford Hopkins (vocals),
*Phil Ryan (keyboards),
*Windham Rees (drums),
*Ray Williams (bass),
*R. Bennett (bass),
*Jign Weathers (drums).

Related Artists:
Pete Brown & Piblokto!, Gentle Giant, Big Sleep, Man, Wild Turkey

Tracks:
01. Crossroads of Time 5:00
02. Never Care 3:18
03. I'll Be Your Friend 3:48
04. 7 + 7 Is 2:32
05. Prodigal Son 5:27
06. Largo 3:14
07. Love Is the Law 5:16
08. Yesterday 4:22
09. I Wonder Why 3:13
10. World of Emotion 2:48
11. Inspiration for a New Day 3:09

Enjoy!

***Rare 1969 South African Psych -very melodic & intense!***

CLICK *HERE!*