A Little More (Self-released)
Back in 1969, the St Louis psychedelic pop outfit signed to Parlophone and recorded their debut album Resurrection at Abbey Road with Beatles’ sound engineers Geoff Emerick, Alan Parsons and Norman Smith. However, when its two singles failed to chart, the label shelved the album and bid the bad farewell. However, in 2003 it finally surfaced, accompanied by press coverage about how they’d hung out with The Beatles and met Hendrix, with both The Guardian and Rolling Stone extolling the album’s praises. Now, 18 years later, founder member Tom Hartman has resurrected the name for this follow-up, although the McCartney-like album opener Stopped! opener and the title track were both actually written back in 1969, after recording the album, the latter having a previous existence as the B-side to Hartman’s 1971 post-Aerovons single released on Bell, home to The Box Tops.
It is, as you might expect, of a decided 60s psychedelic-pop persuasion with its treated vocals and acid-guitar sounds, Shades Of Blue calling Sgt, Pepper influences to mind with its Indian instruments and reverse guitars while piano ballad Me & My Bomb, about your first car as a teenager, is pure ELO while You & Me, a song about a lifelong relationship conjures George Harrison.
So Sorry is another piano ballad, about a messed up relationship, channels McCartney, the album ending with The Way Things Went Tonight which switches allegiances to the dreamy harmonies of The Beach Boys and, finally, harpsichord makes an entrance for Swinging London which, as the title suggests, evokes the sights and sounds of 1969 England. Like stepping into a musical time warp, this succeeds in both capturing that retro magic while still sounding fresh and youthful. Definitely a case of looking forward to a little bit more. Mike Davies
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