Rainbow Ffolly – Sallies Fforth (1968/2005)
Artist: Rainbow Ffolly
Album: Sallies Fforth
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Label: Mason Records
Year Of Release: 1968/2005
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
1. She’s Alright
2. I’m So Happy
3. Montgolfier
4. Drive My Car
5. Goodbye
6. Hey You
7. Sun Sing
8. Sun & Sand
9. Labour Exchange
10. They’m
11. No
12. Sighing Game
13. Come On Go
Bonus Track:
14. Go Girl
Personnel:
Vocals, Bass Guitar – Roger Newell
Vocals, Drums – Stewart Osborn
Vocals, Guitar – Jonathan Dunsterville, Richard K. Dunsterville
Thirteen examples of pleasant, mid-tempo, mildly amplified psychedelic pop, most of them owing some considerable debt to the influence of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Revolver (though not their production), with some of the nutsy brand of humor that Giles, Giles, & Fripp later traded in. This is basically Paul McCartney-influenced psychedelia, not only in the tone and texture of the lead vocals, but the retro style of songs like “I’m So Happy,” with some vaguely progressive touches that make one think of the more ornate tracks off of Bee Gees’ 1st. “Montgolfier” is a folky/trippy, deliberately antiquated cut that intersects somewhere midway between the early psychedelic Bee Gees and the early work of Amazing Blondel. The group also had the temerity to write and record a bouncy number called “Drive My Car” that sounds McCartney-esque (even anticipating the scatting on the latter’s “Heart of the Country”) without ever sounding at all like the Beatles’ song of that name. Other cuts, such as “Goodbye,” contain elements that anticipate Simon & Garfunkel’s “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright.” It’s all under-produced, which makes the attempted guitar flourishes on “Hey You” seem a bit anemic, but imparts a nicely lean and trippy sound to “Sun Sing.” Every track here was essentially a demo, a fact that may explain why the album never found an audience in an era when layer upon layer of overdub was the norm — but it is pretty, in a minimalist sort of way.
Review by Bruce Eder
