From the freaked out tradition of Cream,
Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and their countless flower children sprouts the
synesthetic sounds and colors of Rimini, Italy’s Tangerine Stoned. Make no bones about it, this peace and love
gang are out to convince friends, influence enemies and turn on all the people
with their throwback sound of lysergic swimming guitars, deep and distant
rhythm section and a vocalist who has spent more than a single night at the
Morrison Hotel.
As something of a connoisseur of sixties
psychedelia I can tell you that Tangerine Stoned’s is an American sound,
specifically one that circulated around the Bay Area circa 1967. The opening pair of laidback cruisers on this
disc proves that Jefferson Airplane and The Doors (once again) have made an
impression on these cats for sure, but so have acts like The Vejetables, The
Mojo Men, Country Joe, Quicksilver Messenger Service & The Great Society or
at the very least, the band has conjured the ghosts of these lysergic souls.
“Blues In Door” sounds like an outtake from
some terrific Swingin’ London exploitation film getting a Zoot Money of Brian
Auger sound out of the organ. This paves
the way for “Dirty Ceiling”, what for my money is the standout track on the
album. This is truly like a great lost
song from the sixties, the kind of song that makes me wish that mainstream
classic rock radio would play new and deserving songs. This would certainly have the geezers rushing
out to the record stores again. Who
knows? Maybe if mainstream radio wasn’t
dictated to by big record label money, the “Music Industry” would still have a
chance. But, music isn’t industry
anyway, it’s art. And this is art. This is Tangerine Stoned.
“Nave De Bar” is another standout featuring
catchy vocals with Italian lyrics. Try
singing along to THAT if you’re an English speaker! Still, I want to, I’m compelled to try. And that’s what it’s all about, the
infectiousness of music which speaks in a universal tongue. The ancient spirit of the campfire singers,
the very origins of music itself, that which is sung and must be repeated,
committed to memory and passed down to the next generation. I wonder if that’s how this band who’s time
is perhaps a generation or two too late got their start. Singing along to unimaginative and greedy
mainstream classic rock radio, perhaps singing along with their parents for
whom the music didn’t seem all too old.
Perhaps those parents even remember a time when the music was still
fresh, as it is today, with this, the creative fruits of their children. Life is wonderfully cyclical isn’t it? Like the vibrations of the sympathetic
strings on the sitar which graces the glistening opening swells of epic closing
track “L'Urlo della Strega”. It’s an 11
minute instrumental that perfectly captures the wonder of a natural high in a
beautiful setting on a beautiful night and the thought that the world is full
of frightening and amazing things that can happen at a moment’s notice. In other words: “it’s all happening” on this
track. And like any psychedelic band
worth their acid laced sugar cubes, Tangerine Stoned do not fail to throw in
some backwards sounds right at the end.
!!sebiv ciledehcysp citnehtua dna yzarc
esoht giD
words by Lucas Klaukien
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