Saturday, May 08, 2010

1106 - Mojo 127. J.K. & Co. - Suddenly One summer (1968)





















Track Listing

1. Break of Dawn
2. Fly
3. Little Children
4. Christine
5. Speed
6. Crystal Ball
7. Nobody
8. O.D.
9. Land of Sensations and Delights
10. Time
11. Magical Fingers of Minerva
12. Dead

Review

In 1968 a 15 year old makes a track which could easily be mistaken for Radiohead... really? Yes, really. Although most of the album is pretty good psych, one track, Fly, puts this album above and beyond just good. Fly by itself makes this album an essential one to have.

The album itself is a conceptual "life of X" type thing, not particularly original by now, but the music often comes completely from left-field, there's a lot here which is common to the late 60s psychedelia but plenty which just sounds completely new.

That the album was a failure it isn't surprising, having released the 30 second instrumental first track as the single cannot have helped, and most of the album is too different from what was around to really be a commercial prospect, but now it is essential listening. Get it.

Track Highlights

1. Fly
2. Dead
3. Little Children
4. Christine

Final Grade


9/10

Trivia

From
Aquarium Drunkard:

Recorded in 1968, leader Jay Kaye was only 15 at the time, and for someone so inexperienced in the studio, the lyrics, vocals and musicianship are remarkably advanced. Traveling from his home of Las Vegas to Vancouver, Kaye worked with some of the areas top session players (including members of the popular local outfit, Mother Truckers Yellow Duck). Inspired by the Beatles recent psychedelic landmarks, and LSD itself, the album is lush with orchestral flair with a spiritual slant. Robert Buckley, himself a teenager, assisted Kaye with many of the albums arrangements and psychedelic effects. It was Buckley who created the decaying, backward effects that punctuate the masterful “Fly” – a track which sounds well of its time, familiar in feel to prime-era Radiohead.

Fly:

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