More Psychedelic Pop, and Baroque Pop Album reviews
Marc Brierley
Welcome to the Citadel (1968)
A minor player on the late-'60s British folk-rock scene, guitarist and singer/songwriter Marc Brierley made a couple of albums in the late '60s that were somewhat in line with the folk-pop-rock Donovan was making around the same time, though they were milder and far less distinctive. Brierley made his recording debut in 1966 with a five-song acoustic EP for Transatlantic Records that was similar in nature to the early acoustic recordings of Donovan and Bert Jansch. His 1968 debut LP, Welcome to the Citadel, expanded his arrangements into light folk-rock and touches of orchestration, with Tony Reeves and Mike Travis (who'd just toured with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) as the rhythm section. One-time Donovan manager Ashley Kozak produced 1969's more melodic Hello, which moved toward slightly fuller pop/rock arrangements, though as on its predecessor these sometimes had a Baroque flavor. Other than a couple of non-LP singles in 1969 and 1970, that would be Brierley's entire recording career, as he retired from music in 1973. All of Brierley's recordings are contained on the two-CD compilation Autograph of Time: The Complete Recordings 1966-1970. (AMG).
The Merry-Go-Round - The Merry-Go-Round: You're a Very Lovely Woman - Live (1967)
The Merry-Go-Round were formed in Los Angeles during the summer of 1966 when Palace Guard drummer Emitt Rhodes left that band and began rehearsing in the Rhodes family garage with his high-school buddy Gary Kato. After a couple weeks with friends Mike Rice and Doug Harwood on bass and drums, respectively, the duo hooked up with a couple of L.A. movers: bassist Bill Rinehart had played in the Leaves and drummer Joel Larson with the Grass Roots, and both had been in the short-lived Gene Clark Group in 1966 and later played on Clark's classic 1967 album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. Rhodes, Kato, Rinehart, and Larson recorded demos that attracted label attention and led to a deal with A&M. "Live" was released as a single in early 1967 and quickly became a huge hit in L.A., and eventually reached number 63 in the Billboard singles chart. The B-side, "Time Will Show the Wiser," became somewhat well known too, as Fairport Convention cut a version on their 1968 debut album.
The Twilights -
Once Upon a Twilight (1968)
A clear case could be made for citing The Twilights’ Once Upon a Twilight as Australia’s greatest pop-psych album. Although almost totally ignored on its original release in June 1968, the album now takes its place among the best of the genre (MOJO magazine’s 2004 Special Edition on Psychedelia listed Once Upon a Twilight as one of the great unheralded World Psych albums).
Between 1966 and 1967 The Twilights enjoyed eight Top 40 hit singles. Near-perfect pop-psych gems like ‘9.50’, ‘Young Girl’, ‘Time and Motion Study Man’, ‘The Way They Play’, ‘Cathy Come Home’ and ‘Comin’ on Down’ remain some of the finest moments in Australia’s 1960s musical legacy. The Twilights had gained much inspiration and experience on their trip to the UK (October 1966 to February 1967), during which they recorded three tracks at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios with in-house producer Norman Smith (Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things): a cover of The Hollies’ ‘What’s Wrong with the Way I Live’, ‘9.50’ and ‘Young Girl’. Upon returning to Australia , the band set about recording what was to be their greatest (and final) LP.
Ro-D-Ys -
Earnest Vocation (1968)
The Ro-d-ys were from the northern part of The Netherlands and were formed somewhere around 1965. The name Ro-d-ys was chosen after they heard there already was a band called The Rowdies. There very first single, released in 1966 flopped saleswise but got a lot of airplay. Their lucky break came with the follow up single "Take Her Home" in 1967. The succes continued with their best known single "Just Fancy" which was a hit late summer/early autumn 1967. In 1968 more quality singles were met with increasing lack of succes and after one more failed attempt with the beautiful and haunting single "Winter Woman" early 1969 the group called it quits. They released two albums, "Just Fancy"in 1967 and "Earnest Vocation" in 1968. If you like sixties rock with influences from The Beatles, The Kinks & The Yardbirds then this is it.
1968 had to be the year of the Ro-D-Ys.They released their more experimental psychedelic album Earnest vocationwich was produced by Hans van Hemert wich also produced the albums by Q65 and Group 1850.
The album was somewhat a concept album based around the story of The Little John by Frederik van Eeden(wich was a 19th/20th century writer) - a fantastical adventure of an everyman who grows up to face the harsh realities of the world around him and the emptiness of hopes for a better afterlife, but ultimately finding meaning in serving the good of those around him.
The album sold good,but the singles didn’t get any attention.
