One of the rarest minor label psychedelic records, The Human Zoo represents the year it was released quite well. I've read a lot of bellyaching that this album sounds like multiple bands. Without historical context that is indeed true. For those who've read my blog long enough, I refer to 1970 as the "confused year of America". Musically and sociologically. This was the end of the line for the psychedelic movement, and the few albums that did eke out, were mostly ignored real time. I'm quite fond of this chaos and confusion myself. Unlike modern bands who purposely genre hop - much to my annoyance - the groups from that era were trying all sorts of things hoping anything might stick to the audience's imagination. The Human Zoo had no hope though. This is the kind of fuzzy psych you find on obscure 45s, not mainstream pop albums. Since the 1980s, everyone and their grandmothers has been turning every stone looking for a copy, but none are to be found. So few were sold to begin with, and who knows what happened to the original batch of records. Probably found their way to a dumpster. In any case, if you have any interest in American psych music, The Human Zoo is worthy of your time.
Ownership: CD: 2010 Cicadelic. Recent online acquisition (2023). New copies are going for super cheap. From the master tapes, but the overall packaging leaves much to be desired. Would have been nice to get the history of the band, the label, and anything else. Instead you get a single card cover. All the info is on the back tray as shown here. Original LPs on Accent go for a fortune. I've run into the Accent label quite a bit - but mostly in the 45 world. There's one lounge/jazz performer here in Colorado Springs that had a full album on the label (Leigh Barron) + a 45 that I added to Discogs. They dabbled in psych, but their focus was primarily in country and light jazz music.
4/17/23 (new entry)
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