Pisces (US) - A Lovely Sight (1969, Psych Rock)
Kolejna grupa z jednym LP na koncie. Zespół pochodził z Rockford (Illinois, US).W 1969 roku nagrał świetną płytę w klimacie Jefferson Airplane z gościnnym udziałem
Ala Johnsona (lead guitar) i Boba "Fish" Fishera (bass).
1A Dear One
2A Children Kiss Your Mother Goodnight
3A Motley Mary Ann
4A Say Goodbye John
5A Mary
6A Genesis II
1B Sam
2B The Music Box
3B Like A Hole In The Wall Where The Rat Lives
4B Are You Changing In Your Time
5B In The Dream Of Paula
6B Elephant Eyes
7B Circle Of Time
Though it's primarily known for its "eccentric soul" reissues, the founders of Chicago's Numero Group label also have a deep and abiding love for the wildly inventive and genre-blurring qualities of vintage psychedelic rock, and with their latest release, they've unearthed as brilliant a buried treasure as I've ever heard from the fertile period that followed "Sgt. Pepper's" and the much-vaunted 'Summer of Love'. Hardly a hippie haven, the psychedelic trip as interpreted in Rockford, Ill., circa 1969 was darker, grittier and on occasion more sinister and threatening than anything heard in sunny San Francisco--not for nothing does Numero describe the group of studio musicians who called themselves Pisces as aiming for "the Beatles and Jefferson Airplane, but somehow sounding more like the Velvet Underground's meth'd out Midwest cousin." As with the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, that hint of menace makes the group's journey toward THE WHITE light all the more powerful. Previously heard only on three ultra-rare 45's issued back in the day--the group's one album remained unreleased until this collection--Pisces' other big asset is the warm, robust Earth Mother voice of sometimes vocalist Linda Bruner, who shines on tracks such as the enchanting 'Dear One', the lovely "Say Goodbye to John" and the haunting 'Sam'. The band was not immune to the indulgences of the times--a song like 'Mary' sinks under the weight of all that phasing and studio trickery, while the somber spoken-word bit in 'Genesis II' would have been better left to the Moody Blues. But overall, the enduring melodies and unique ambience of 'A Lovely Sight' sound as vibrant and relevant today as they did four decades ago.
OdpowiedzUsuńNumerous latest non-soul resurrection comes in the form of late-60s psych-pop group Pisces, who kicked around the Rockford, Illinois scene for a few years before bowing out without a whimper or even an album to their name. Adding to the romanticized back-story, the Pisces tapes which make up this compilation could still feasibly be rotting away in an Illinois basement somewhere if not for the luck of the Numero Group, who coincidentally ran across a handful of Pisces singles as they researched the bands fledgling label, Vincent Records, presumably for an upcoming selection of highlights from the short-lived imprint. Thankfully, Pisces left behind a strong, trippy and frequently enchanting collection of psych-pop curiosities, and as always, Numero has painstakingly compiled these tracks into one revealing document, which here they've dubbed 'A Lovely Sight', after the studio run by Pisces co-leaders Jim Krein and Paul DeVenti.
As I mentioned earlier, Pisces never got around to releasing an actual album, so whatis interesting about 'A Lovely Sight' is that Numero has taken the liberty of sequencing a selection of 13 Pisces tracks into a kind-of revisionist full-length. They've done a considerable JOB in my view, as 'A Lovely Sight' plays out as seamlessly as anyone could have hoped, with two distinct sides and even an Extended Play appendix, adding two additional tracks to this mock-album. And of course, the entire package is immaculate, with detailed liner notes and a handful of suitably psychedelic photos adding to the druggy nostalgia. But back to the music, which is not only consistently strong, but also rendered in surprising clarity, as to accentuate every backwards guitar line and hand-manipulated tape experiment. The bands occasional forays with these hallucinatory tape editing techniques remind me most directly of their contemporaries in The United States of America. But whereas USA utilized the kaleidoscopic aspects of these experiments to stretch out into lengthier head-trip excursions, Pisces use them in service of stand-alone pop songs. And these pop songs are, through and through, equally reminiscent of post-Rubber Soul Beatles, Nico-fronted Velvet Underground ballads, and Jefferson Airplane-style psych-rock rave-ups.
OdpowiedzUsuńEarly album highlight 'Motley Mary Ann' on its own could pass for a Revolver outtake and in all seriousness could actually make a convincing argument for that same level of pop perfectionism. These Krein and DeVenti-led tracks are all charmingly left-of-center pop oddities, but itís when they hand the reigns over to a mysterious female vocalist by the name of Linda Bruner that Pisces really begins to add a unique dimension to their proto-typical garage psych sound. Bruner recorded vocals for four Krein/DeVenti originals, and her earth-mother sighs add an ominous atmosphere to opener iDear One,î while her more operatic flair comes to the fore on the thrilling combo of 'Say Goodbye John' and 'Sam'. Despite these considerable highlights, 'A Lovely Sight' ends with arguably its two best tracks: 'Elephant Eyes' is a steadily skipping garage-rock number of a fairly high order,'Circle of Time' brings things full circle, both thematically and lyrically, doubling back on 'Dear One' and quite easily standing out as the most energetic and rocking of the tracks in this set (complete with a dizzying drum solo). It truly does sound like some sort of alternate reality hit, where Jefferson Airplane never took off and Vincent Records had the means to distribute the single outside the insulated Rockford
community. 'A Lovely Sight' is certainly one of the stronger Numero pop/rock releases thus far, and one that will no doubt satisfy those clamoring for more from this seemingly endless well of Nuggets-style psychedelic pop.
Pisces
*Linda Bruner - Vocals
*Jim Krein - Guitar, Vocals
*Paul DiVenti - Keyboards, Vocals
*Cal Van Laningham - Drums
*Dale Taylor - Guitar
*Red Balderama - Bass
With
Al Johnson - Lead Guitar
Bob "Fish" Fisher - Bass
Thx :)