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Tracks:
1. ‘The Ice Cream Song.’ A psychedelic mini-symphony of ice cream, guitars and a choir,
set in Cambridge. “Lovely ice cream, summery dream, I’ve got a raspberry one, you’ve got
a strawberry one…”
2. ‘Truth Fairy.’ Another mini-symphony with psychedelic guitar and hallucinatory vocals.
“Tune in, turn on, drop out…”
3. ‘Sylvester The Protester.’ Sylvester Smith travels on the train to London to join a protest.
He takes his Hammond with him. “Sylvester the protester took a train from Flint near Chester…”
4. ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good?’ A request for peace. “Wouldn’t it be good if there hadn’t been a Jesus…?”
5. ‘In Time.’ Insane fuzz-guitars and massive drums underpin a tale of nature and sensory
experience. “Green is where it’s at, red is so old hat, blue is only tat…”
6.** ‘Haight-Ashbury.’ Sound collage meets spoken word in bad-trip fusion of music and
found sounds.
7.** ‘Early Mornings.’ Druggy Indian sounds both underpin and ornament a tale of early-morning
mental questing. “Spirits you sent me to sleep, half past three…”
8.** ‘English Wisdom.’ Byrds-esque guitars and a harpsichord help relate this tale of landscape
and nature-love. Written by Paul Rowley. “Under rocks and bones, over stepping stones…”
9. ‘Diamond Cutter.’ Garage sound and bouncing Hammond underpin a story of helping others
and yourself. Written by Paul Rowley. “Diamond cutter steps in time across the moonlit hills…”
10. ‘Lament For Guy Fawkes.’ Stripped-back song wondering what might happen if, 400 years
later, we succeeded in carrying out Guy Fawkes’ plan. “Walk with me into old London Town,
side by side let’s burn Parliament down…”
11. ‘The Tea Song.’ Floyd-esque opening mutates into massive choir and guitars finale with
euphoric tune. “If you’re feeling blue and lonely, have a cup of tea…”
12.** ‘Groovy Hoof’. East and west collide in instrumental fusion. Only available (with video)
on the DVD version.
** indicates song with video on the DVD.
DVD:
This contains videos for tracks, original versions of Paul Rowley’s songs, a filmed interview
with Paul, a video about Haight Street, and various slideshows.
Dr Silbury’s Continued Travels
Having put together the Liquid Brainstem Band for the esteemed 2007 double-album,
Dr Silbury hooked up the external force oscillator of his quantum jukebox to its calendar
in order to travel to the year 1967½, where he experienced an alternate Summer Of Love.
Now, in CD and DVD format, come twelve pieces of music from this sensational year.
On 1967½, Dr Silbury works with many of the ’07 musicians, including Star Lighter (Chris Gill)
who sings all the songs, Dr Panacea and Aunty Clockwise (Don Falcone and Karen Anderson)
injecting the necessary San Fancisco input, and Sorcerous Sadie (Cyndee Lee Rule) on the
violin. Also playing is the notorious Johnny Creedence (Pete Wyer) making a welcome return
to the band of Mooch.
What can the listener expect? Well, while this is a ‘sixties sounding album complete with
Hammond organ and so forth, Dr Silbury did visit an alternative 1967. So expect the unexpected…
The album is unusual also in that it is the first Mooch album to feature songs not written by
Steve, in this case by Devon-based songwriter Paul Rowley, a long-standing friend. Should
you be purchasing the DVD version of the album you will be able to hear the original versions
of the two songs, and see a filmed interview with Mr Rowley.
These are the images of the
inserts, CD gets the first two, CD+DVD gets all four.
Reviews and comments ...
Do you remember The Summer of Love? Of course you do. Even if you weren’t
even alive yet for this
period in time, you’ve heard stories of hippies,
free love, flower power and “turning on, tuning in and
dropping out”. If
time has faded your memory slightly, our good friend Dr. Silbury recently
set the
external force oscillator of the quantum jukebox to the historical
year of 1967½ and generated some
tasty sonic tidbits from an alternate
era. On the last excursion, the good doctor provided us of a
multitude of
destinations for sonic gratification. For this presentation he
concentrates on a single
point in the psychedelic continuum.
Ok, some of you are probably thinking, “What’s Mr. Ffroyd
on this time?
Has he been at the airplane glue again?” Well, the answer to that second
question
is no. The trip I’m on is one solely catalyzed by the music of
Mooch, a project fronted by Stephen
Palmer, a.k.a. Dr. Silbury. Last year
Mooch released the incredible double disc Dr. Silbury’s Liquid
Brainstem
Band which featured loads of guest musicians from the space rock community
and was
a cosmic masterpiece. On this new disc, there is a single focus of
psychedelic music inspired by
the sounds of the Summer of Love.
While the cast isn’t as large on this production, there are some
folks
making a return appearance. Chris Gill (Star Lighter) does the vocals for
most every song on
the disc. Chris has a voice that is custom fit for the
psychedelic pop presented here. Eric Schlagzeug
(Mr. Sopht) provides drums
on all tracks. Cyndee Lee Rule (Sorceress Sadie) returns with her Viper
violin on one track. Also Don Falcone (Dr. Panacea) supplies soundscapes
for one standout track.
As you may have already figured out, all of the music here is done in a
retro psychedelic pop style
right out of the late 60s. While not as
meticulous as say Brian Jonestown Massacre (who goes as
far as not using
any instruments, amplifiers or recording gear that isn’t from the era),
the results
here are quite convincing. There’s not much distorted guitar
or spacey synths but there is lots of
great organ sounds and plenty of
trippy vocal effects. What I found most amazing about this album
is how
familiar it all sounds especially tracks like “The Ice Cream Song”,
“Wouldn’t It Be Good” and
“English Wisdom”. After only one play, I was
singing along almost like I had known the album for
years. The songs are
very contagious at first listen and when inspected closer reveal many
complex
layers. There is one piece that is a departure from the pop psych
stuff. “Haight-Ashbury” has more
of a sonic collage feel with
contributions from Don Falcone and Aunty Clockwise (Karen Anderson).
There’s also a speaking part from Alan Sitar Brown.
While this is quite different than most everything
on Mooch’s previous
album, it does show how versatile Stephen Palmer and company can be.
This
is definitely not space rock but fans of that style should have no trouble
accepting this one.
Fans of early Pink Floyd, Blossom Toes, The Beatles
and just about any 60s psychedelic pop
should check this one out. Looking
forward to wherever Dr. Silbury stops on the quantum timeline
next.
For more information and to order this disc (oh yea, it also comes in a
deluxe edition with
a bonus DVD) go to the AmbientLive page.
ffroyd
www.progressiveears.com
Meanwhile back in the UK a bunch of Ladbroke Grove freaks, blag a coach and take a trip in the
country, or so it seems, as Stephen Palmer AKA Mooch, re-creates the heady daze of British
psych on his rather excellent album “1967 ½”. Whilst previous Mooch album have been awash
with instrumental spaciness, this album is filled with short whimsical ditties that evoke that late
sixties feel with consummate ease, complete with suitably twisted lyrics that complete the
illusion.
After the child-like opener “The Ice Cream Song”, things get stranger with the brilliant
“Truth Fairy”
a song filled with effects, phasing, and backward noises, Not since The Dukes
of Stratosphere,
has this period been resurrected so well. This standard is maintained on
“Sylvester the Protester”
which features a lovely guitar motif, and on “Wouldn’t It Be Good”
a song with a definite Pink Floyd
feel, Floyd under the control of Syd of course, as the
sing-song verse is interrupted by tumbling
electronics to great effect.
Elsewhere on the disc “In Time” cranks the guitar up for a bit of a freak-out, whilst “Haight
Ashbury” features recorded voices and sounds mixed with droning electronics, whilst wistful
poetry is read
over the top, creating a dream like feel. On “Early Mornings”, droning sitar and
eastern flutes are
blended with organ chords and understated guitar to create the traditional
mystical song, before
“English Wisdom” brings us back to earth, the sound of early Moody
Blues woven within the song.
Finally “The Tea Song” is a suitably trippy way to end a fantastic
voyage that sounds better each
time you listen. The album comes with a pastiche of the
International Times and has a lovely
cover as well making it an essential purchase for
lovers of UK psych pop.
This album is wonderful, invoking the sounds of the psychedelic sixties, whilst retaining
a
freshness and vitality that makes it relevant to today.
Simon Lewis www.terrascope.co.uk
I love it, I still must listen to it every two weeks. It is such a nice,
quiet, relaxing, intriguing work.
Even when I do not understand all the words.
It is really an tribute to that era,
It is The Beatles meet The Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett teaming up with
John Lennon.
It is the Mama's & the Papa's & Scott McKenzie dancing in the
moonlight.
I love the organ sounds, the lovely singing, the mean guitarsounds, the
sometimes "silly"
summer love songs.
It is one long Surreal Dream of flower power, it brings the Summer of Love
alive into our century .
I really cant say what track stands above an other, well maybe
"English Wisdom".
This track combines the total album feeling into one track.
With This album Mooch is really ready for the big world.
Bert Hulshoff
The previous album by Mooch called Dr. Silbury’s Liquid Brainstem Band
was already
clearly different stuff than the more ambient releases before it and got
closer to the band
concept, but 1967 ½ still took me by surprise, very positively. Steven
Palmer had come
up with the idea of making an album full of 60’s styled psychedelia
asking his friends
and acquaintances to join in the party. Wonderful!
The album starts off with the amazing, cheerful 60’s styled psych pop
number “The Ice
Cream Song” with lyrics about walking around stoned and eating all kinds
of goodies.
Excellent! The singer on the album is Chris Gill aka Star Lighter and he
has a fine voice
that suits this kind of music perfectly. Pete Wyer plays an interesting
guitar solo.
Also “Truth Fairy” is superb, Pink Floyd styled psych pop with soft,
marvelous vocals
also including some female backing vocals. The organ plays an important
role in this
track and there are also some psych sounds and in the end some acoustic
guitar.
The slower, Beatlesque, melodic and rather psychedelic ”Sylvester the
Protester”
is a good song with some amazing guitar, nice organ sounds and female
backing
vocals too.
The organ-driven ”Wouldn’t It Be Good?” continues the innocent psych
pop line of
the first two tracks in the early Pink Floyd style also including some
sitar. Another
winner, for sure. There is also some birdsong and psychedelic effects and
the ending
is pretty hypnotic. One of my favorites! The heavier, a bit faster psych
rocker “In Time”
sort of reminds me of The Open Mind. Really hot stuff! ”Hight-Ashbury”
is a hallucinatory
sound collage with narration made by Don Falcone who’s famous for his
Spirits Burning
project among other things.
”Early Mornings” begins with sitar and flute and then the vocals,
organ and light rhythm
join in. This is a very soft, slow and spacey track. The bright guitars on
“English Wisdom”
bring to mind The Moffs from Australia. It’s innocent, melodic and
wonderful psych pop,
where Cyndee Lee Rule plays a couple of excellent electric violin solos.
Some very good
garage rock is being offered with “Diamond Cutter” that has authentic
guitar sound and a
solo, nice organ, great vocals, solid bass work, amazing chorus with
string sounds as
well as a psychedelic, whacky ending. Brilliant! ”Lament for Guy
Fawkes” is a beautiful
ballad with vocals, organ and bass. The last song is The Beatles-like,
slower “The Tea
Song” that ends in a hymn-like praise for tea.
1967 ½ is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year and I can
recommend it from the
bottom of my heart to all those reminiscing the Summer of Love and
everyone into 60’s
styled psychedelic and melodic rock. The CD comes with a funny, two-page
insert that
is like from some alternative hippie paper from 1967 and has for example
the lyrics
embedded in it. The album is also available with a bonus DVD disc but
unfortunately
I haven’t seen it so no comments on that.
Dj Astro, Finland
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