Lucille Furs - Another Land (2019)

This is a brand new album of present-past psych-pop music.

My friend, Kilda Defnut, says that Methuselah could have loved this record during his rebellious teen years, which theoretically, could have lasted for a hundred years or more.

Now, I am no Biblical scholar, but I carbon date the sound of this one to about 1965-68, give or take a radioactive isotope or two. But, to be specific, Chicago’s Lucille Furs are a new band that breathes fresh life into the very vintage sound of psych rock and Baroque pop. And they are good! They are good like The Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, The Electric Prunes, Blossom Toes’ We Were Ever So Clean, The Kinks’ “Well Respected Man” and “Plastic Man,” and (holy cow!) The Beatles as they turned from “Help” to “I’m Only Sleeping.”

Mr. Radue (aka Jazz Guy) revealed a guilty pleasure as he confessed a more than a working knowledge of The Monkees (aka The Pre-Fab Four) as he lit up with youthful exuberance upon hearing “Paint Euphrosyne.” This from a man who loves John Coltrane’s Ascension!

But, as the already mentioned Pretty Things once sang, Get the Picture?

And speaking of the Beatles, oh my, the first tune “Another Land” begins with an almost cover of Lennon’s “Come Together.” It then changes tempo and breezes through guitar led psych land. And then, there’s a sudden shift, and lovely shift at that, until the brisk notes return to end with a bit of fast drama. This is no longer simple pop music.

“Leave It as You Found It” is that sort of music hall tune of the period, replete with (ahhhh!) a kazoo. Such were (and are) the times.

“First Do No Harm” returns to The Beatles footprint with harmonies and musical vibe that echo Rubber Soul or Revolver. The song “I’m Looking Through You” comes to mind.

My own guilty pleasure: I hear “Pleasant Valley Sunday” all over this record, although to be fair, the pleasant valley is cut into a deeper groove.

This music recreates the moment when simple pop e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d. “All Flowers Before Her,” “Eventually,” and “Karaoke Trials” all chomp at the extended psychedelic bit. The Beach Boys cross wires with early Moody Blues, with a dash of Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd. And then surf rock is somehow still relevant with “Madredexiliados.” Oh, and “The 34th Floor” is psych-pop perfection, as is “Sooner or Later” which has John Lennon’s sly melodious touch. It’s a nice song.

So really, if the psych stuff is the itch, then this record will polish the sophisticated pop surfboard.

The final songs, “Transmitting from the Blind Guard,” “Almond Bees,” and “No Word in English” are Baroque pop tunes. That will satisfy fans of Robyn Hitchcock, and anybody else name-checked in the preceding paragraphs.

Ultimately, there is a bit of Jurassic Park about all of this music. You know, mosquitoes, amber, dinosaur DNA, and of course, the hatching of that baby Velociraptor and a Gallimimus stampede. Sure, this is music kept in rock ‘n’ roll amber, but it has now been reborn in a melodic psychedelic friendly Brontosaurus dinosaur sort oy way. And that’s always a nice thing to do.

But speaking of Mosquitoes (and addressing Gilligan’s Island aficionados), that was the name of the band who escaped to Gilligan’s Island in an episode, Don’t Bite the Mosquitoes, aired December 9, 1965, and who decided, instead of getting it together in the country to develop their music pop sound (ala Traffic) they needed an island, an island that just happened to be inhabited by those favorite cast-a-ways. Well, the DNA of their mid-Sixties pop sound, stuck forever in the amber of television reruns, has also been rescued, psyched up, pushed into the future, and, finally, now pulled from the past into a rather great and very melodic record album.

And, as my friend, Kilda Defnut (when not citing Biblical icons), says every once in a while, “Insects often make the best rock music.”

Tracklist:
01. Lucille Furs - Another Land
02. Lucille Furs - Leave It as You Found It
03. Lucille Furs - First, Do No Harm
04. Lucille Furs - Paint Euphrosyne Blue
05. Lucille Furs - Sooner Than Later
06. Lucille Furs - All Flowers Before Her
07. Lucille Furs - Eventually,
08. Lucille Furs - Madre De Exiliados
09. Lucille Furs - Karaoke Trials
10. Lucille Furs - The 34th Floor
11. Lucille Furs - Transmitting from the Blind Guard
12. Lucille Furs - Almond Bees
13. Lucille Furs - No Word in English