My friend Al mailed me the other day and reminded me of the band called Clear Light. They did a cover of Tom Paxton’s “Mr. Blue.”
What will it take to whip you into line?
A broken heart?
A broken head?
It can be arranged.
It can be arranged.
Well, that’s what high school was like, so we appreciated the song. As I recall, it was a fairly good album. They had two drummers, and the liner notes suggested turning the volume way up to appreciate the double-percussion. The band wasn’t very well known, but I came to know them in my teenage years thanks to my older brother’s eclectic tastes.
He also had a Mad River album that I purchased on CD several years ago. The Mad River guys sounded like they walked into a studio after a three-day sleepless drug binge followed by a strong blows to the head. They reached some sort of extreme edge of burned-out psychedelic sound that was terrifying and funny at the same time. I read that one reason the music sounds weirdly hyped up is because of a studio error that caused it to be recorded at the wrong speed.
My brother was also listening to bands called Ultimate Spinach and Beacon Street Union–names probably only known to the 60s trivia buffs out there. He should also be crediting with introducing me to Tim Buckley (Jeff’s dad).
Filed under: music | Tagged: clear light, mad river
