The Seeds "Future" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2017/1967 (GNP Crescendo)

For whatever reason, I can never take The Seeds seriously.   There are garage bands, but The Seeds always seemed to be a satire of a garage band.  Mostly due to the stance of Sky Saxon and his full embracement of the Flower Power movement.   The first two Seeds albums were straight ahead 60s era garage rock that seemed simple, yet profound.  Throughout my life, I have felt The Seeds belong to the cinematic world of Roger Corman, or the "Something Weird" film distributor.  Which in theory,  sounds pretty good, but compared to a band like The Music Machine, I find The Seeds aesthetically not as important as the one black-gloved wonders.   I avoided The Seeds' third album "Future" like the plague due to the Flower Power motif, but alas, out of boredom, I purchased this album, and I find it fantastic. 

For one, I actually prefer the organ/electric piano of The Seeds, then the Doors, which has a similar line-up.   Jim Morrison is a college professor compared to Sky's lyrics, yet, even in the Roger Corman sense of an aesthetic, Sky may be the real 'deal.'  Straightforward in that Sky had a vision, but he seemed to be the damaged child in some Los Angeles version of a Charles Dickens novel.  The Seeds are Ruffins compared to the sophistication of The Doors.  Still "Painted Doll" is a beautiful and romantic melody, that's almost Iggy Pop in its poetry.  I also love the absurd "Flower Lady and Her Assistant," due that it's a song about a woman who sells flowers on the street, but yet, there's an assistant.  That strikes me as brilliant to add the assistant part.  

Daryl Hooper's keyboards are minimalist and hypnotic.  He's the glue that holds the band together, but for this album, they added various horns, sitar, gong, and most important, a harp.  One can call this album psychedelic, but never loses the pilot, and it's a highly arranged work, with beautiful orchestration.  With the additional instrumentation and the high concept of 'Flower Children,' The Seeds remain to be bratty, defiant, and classic garage rock (in that trashy manner), but with a bigger budget.  It reminds me a bit of The Rolling Stones' "Between the Buttons," in the similar vain in that a band kept their sound, but expanded that landscape with a broader theme.  The Seeds' "Future" is utopian but one can feel a bummer will take place around the corner.   The album as a whole has the classic Seeds sound, but there are also many exotic touches that fit into the groove that's Sky Saxon. 

The Music Machine - "(Turn On) The Music Machine" Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, 1966 (Original Sound)

"Talk Talk" is one of the great 45 rpm singles in my life.   As a 12-year-old, I couldn't wait till it came on the radio.  I think it lasted under two minutes which was torture to me.  I remember keeping the radio dial on KHJ or KCRW, or both, in the hopes to hear this song again.  Oddly enough I never had the 45 rpm single.  Reasons why, is in the memory bank of the forgotten.  

It was years later that I purchased an early CD edition of his album, and in stereo.  I thought the stereo mix was terrible.  Not the way I remembered the song, which again, was through the magic of a transistor radio.   At Mono (no pun intended) Records store I found an original 'Mono' pressing of "(Turn On) The Music Machine."   What is there not to like?  A band dressed all in black, and all wearing one black glove.   Fascism, punk rock, religious cult/order?   When I got home and put it on my turntable, I was blown over by the great sound coming out of the speakers.  No separation of the organ from the voice of Sean Bonniwell.  Who also, by the way, wrote the original songs on this album, and the half are covers of songs from that era or year 1966.  It's almost a jukebox of hit songs like "Taxman," Neil Diamond's "Cherry Cherry,' and the other punk garage rock iconic song from Question Mark and the Mysterians'  "96 Tears."   What took me by surprise is that all the songs by Bonniwell, including "Talk Talk" were magnificent and crafted song(wo)manship. 

"Masculine Intuition" and "Come On In" are songs that struck me just as hard as "Talk Talk."  It's a strange feeling to listen to an album made decades ago, and just thinking they were a one-hit wonders for "Talk Talk."  That they had other songs right up there with that piece of music - magic was a wow for me. 

Their version of "Hey Joe" is actually my fave of all the many versions that are out there.  Bonniwell was an excellent vocalist.  His voice can convey a deeper sense of hurt and disappointment.  The banality of a young man yes, but throughout Bonnniwell's composition skills,  the subject matter of the song becomes the status of Shakespeare tragedy through the medium of garage rock.