SUPERFINE DANDELION orig Mainstream LP fuzz sitar psych
$
57
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Description
RARE ORIGINAL 1967 STEREO pressing of this Mainstream label gem from the Superfine Dandelion. For those who collect these one-off Mainstream obscurities (myself included), this is one of those releases that, along with the Tiffany Shade, seem to get overlooked in the madness to find Bohemian Vendetta and the Jellybean Bandits (also up for bid right now, nudge nudge). Which is probably due to the fact that the Superfine Dandelion, despite the name, were going for a lighter style of country-inflected West Coast psych rock, one that might not knock you over the head like the Mainstream biggies, but grows on you just the same like a vintage mid-60's Byrds album. You can tell right from the front cover, where the band are dressed in the style of San Francisco sound pioneers the Charlatans - even the typeface they used reeks of an old spaghetti western title screen. So if you dig the kind of songs Gene Clark contributed to the Byrds ouevre, or the sound of early Buffalo Springfield, then be sure to play the Superfine Dandelion's trio of country-rock masterpieces - "My Place", "Shameful Lady" and "Don't Try to Call Me." For those of us into more head-swirling, mind-blowing sounds, there's some goodies to be had here too. "Ferris Wheel" is a SUPERB magic carpet ride of sitar-led exotica - very trippy stuff indeed - with suitably stoned vocals and a bed of shimmering sitar goodness. "The Other Sidewalk" is probably the strongest song here, an absolutely stone-cold perfect slice of dizzying psychedelia that stumbles along on a frantic, swirly stutterstep rhythm. There are some great FUZZ guitar licks, and some even fuzzier bass that drives home the lumbering elephantine stomp of the rhythm section. It's a sound that tries hard to bring to life what travelling through another dimension, or perhaps a state of mind, might feel like, and the lyrics give the game away - "People never look beyond their eyes." Indeed. See without seeing, that kind of stuff. Elsewhere, the opener "People in the Street" kicks up a nice rumbling garagey head of steam with a cool jangly acid guitar solo. It comes across like a rawer Guess Who, more tighter and "rock" than a teen garage band, and louder than a Byrds or Charlatans tune. The Dandelion channel Dylan in the folky "Crazy Town", and like the Charlatans, they throw some jugband into the mix - although the Charlatans were never as funny or downright morbid as on the sick twisted dark humor of "Janie's Tomb", which really must be heard to be believed. All in all, this is a deeply rewarding little Mainstream label obscurity, not one to hit you on the head and drag by the hair back to the cave like the bigger boys, but perhaps more in touch with the real '67 West Coast laid-back acid psych scene. "Superfine Dandelion is on its own trip" read the liner notes. Buy your tickets now. Original 1967 STEREO pressing on the Mainstream label. Cover's in VG+ shape with some tape on bottom seam, some staining on the top of back cover and a small name written in ink on back (Mabel Hall, where are you now?) - vinyl plays real nice, VG++. Winning bidder pays $3.00 media mail shipping in the US, $6 air mail to Canada, $12 air mail everywhere else. Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted. Please check out my other auctions for more pop, psych and garage obscurities.
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