Mashmakhan's sophomore effort is light on songwriting skills, and the vocals sound a bit strained. The appeal? The instrumental breaks, where the organ, flute, and psychedelic guitar gather for some fine jamming. Here the band sound a bit like Jethro Tull meeting Santana, with a hippie vibe throughout. The album sort of peters out on Side 2, mainly due to the lack of any instrumentals. Relying on their compositions will not get them very far. The album ends with the band's most overtly progressive rock track, which isn't really any better than the songs on side 1 - just stretched out a bit. The Family is like many North American bands from the turn of the 1970 decade: They can't decide what they want to be. Psych, hard rock, prog, jazz, blues? No one seemed to know, and off into oblivion they went in a couple of years after three more singles.
Personal collection
CD: 1999 Collectables w/Mashmakhan
LP: 1971 Columbia
The CD combines both albums, but leaves off 'Mr. Tree', which is the 10 minute proggy track. Of course they did. Who would want to hear them stretch out, when there's perfectly bad 3 minute tracks to provide instead? Argh. Funny how the mainstream never could accept progressive rock, no matter what. Well, it's a happenin' now dummy's.
No comments:
Post a Comment