Mercoledì 4 Feb 2009, 17:19
Wow, this album is a treasure! Maybe it needs some digging first, but once you've dug the hole, you discover every song is fantastic. A unique combination of the sweet voices of Arthur Lee/Bryan MacLean, strings, trumpets and of course sometimes a great guitar part in between.
Where their previous album Da Capo was a nice lovely album with one great song on it and one experimental but boring ‘tjingeltjangel’ LP side, this album goes way beyond ‘lovely’. Apparently the group couldn’t play their songs at first, so session musicians were hired. This serious affront shook up the group members and they started studying the songs. Fortunately! Well, they studied their songs very well and the result is a record with almost perfect pop/folk/rock songs.
This is music that gives you the thrill each time you hear a next song, because every song has either a perfect melody either something special/unexpected. It could be a flamenco trumpet (Alone Again Or), a great guitar part (A House Is Not A Motel), a perfect combination of drums, violins and ‘Pampampam’ (Andmoreagain), a line of descending notes –just listen to know what I mean, hmm :) - (The Red Telephone), a perfect combination of trumpet and guitar (Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale), or talk talk singing (Bummer In The Summer) … incredible!
Did I use the term ‘masterpiece’ already? Yes I did for The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Charles Mingus, I think. This album can easily be added to that list. Impeccable.
(Nóg beter dan de rest: The Red Telephone! Alone Again Or, A House Is Not A Motel, Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale; Bummer In The Summer)