Nearly as good as Spooky Two
Elliot Knapp | Seattle, Washington United States | 09/19/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It may be sacrilege to say it, but I think I like this album almost as much as I like Spooky Two, this band's now legendary masterpiece. Although Spooky Two is probably more focused in style and vibe (this one's more of a fusion of 60's psychedelic and the heavier, trippy hard rock that would make them more famous), the band's debut is just as energetic, and it rocks just as hard. Not only that, it contains some of the dual lead singers' (Mike Harrison and the band's primary songwriter, American Gary Wright) most gnarly and over-the-top contributions. For me, it's really the combination between the filthy guitar, bass and keyboards and the ridiculous vocals of the two singers that makes Spooky Tooth such a great band, and it all starts here.
"Love Really Changed Me" is one of my favorites, with a groovy piano and organ riff that gives way to the British soul verse trading of each vocalist--Wright's thin but soulful singing contrasts well with Harrison's unparalleled pipes--thick, weathered, and tortured. The song explodes into a psychedelic guitar-driven freak-out. As the song fades out, Gary Wright commits to tape some of the most glorious falsetto ever heard in rock music, let alone Spooky Tooth's falsetto-heavy repertoire. Like many other Spooky Tooth albums, there are some excellently-chosen covers. The opener, "Society's Child" is a twisted psych-soul grinder that combines swelling organ with Harrison's wicked pipes, "Too Much Of Nothing" is a Dylan Basement Tapes classic, and "Tobacco Road" is a Spooky Tooth classic; pounding blues, with Luther Grosvenor's gnarly guitar licks adding a muscular edge. The drawn-out ending is classic, blending into the next track as if it'll never really be over.
Elsewhere, the band's songwriting is uniformly strong, with classics like "Sunshine Help Me," which builds to a dramatic finish, more trippy soul like "Here I Lived So Well," and some grooving, keyboard-driven British psych-pop like "It's All About Roundabout" and "Forget It I Got It." Overall, the album is a careening ride, with plenty of rock seated alongside enough psychedelia to remind us what era it all came from. With only a couple of exceptions (the sound effects in "Bubbles" being the major one), the album has aged really well and doesn't really cater to the more regrettable aspects of the late 60's. If you really liked Spooky Two, I think there's a good chance you'll enjoy a lot of what's offered here, and I can confidently say that this is the band's second best album, and one of only two that are really worth getting unless you're a big fan (the absence of Wright on The Last Puff and the absence of strong songs on Witness hold them back from being great albums, in my opinion). If you've never heard Spooky Tooth, go for the second album first, but if you're already hooked, this one will satisfy."
Track Listings (18) - Disc #1