Last night I followed up my listen of Master of Reality with... Wendy & Bonnie. Of course I did. A reverse one-two punch I suppose.
Quite simply Genesis is one of the most beautiful and "pure" albums ever made. If this album doesn't make you melt, you really ought to seek therapy with your anger management issues. The Flower sisters (their real last name if you can believe it) are the epitome of late 60s psychedelic innocence. Every single track is beautiful, from the soft drifty folk numbers to the more energetic psych rock dancers.
I've owned this album for 34 years, but it's only now that I'm realizing that it was 100% within the universe of Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo. It's only been in the last five years that I've become enthralled with the latter. And now the album makes sense. The San Francisco based Flower family were friends with Cal Tjader, one of the co-owners of the Skye label (along with the above two gentlemen). This is why Genesis is so unique - a combination of young talented teenage girls with professional jazz musicians. According to the liner notes of the CD, McFarland and Szabo were a great support and offered guidance throughout. Not to mention providing A-lister jazz musicians to the recordings. Had the label not run into financial trouble, it's very well possible Wendy & Bonnie would be household names today. The Free Design would be about the only guidepost I can offer here, and even they were a distant type of sound to what is on offer here.
Stunningly beautiful in every way possible.
Ownership: LP: 1969 Skye. Single sleeve. A gift from Rich at Rockadelic (1990). A personal treasure.
CD: 2001 Sundazed. Jewel case. Very informative liner notes. There are five bonus tracks, but only one is of keen interest - a rare acetate by a predecessor band called Crystal Fountain. The other four are primitive outtakes.
1990; 2001; 2010; 1/6/24 (new entry)
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