SURREALISTIC PILLOW

Psychedelic sentiments - Surrealistic Pillow is an innovative classic of its time, zipping you back to the San Fransisco atmosphere of the sixties. Recorded in 1966 and released for the Summer of Love: 1967, it is an album of variety. 'Somebody To Love' is a great upbeat number led by Slick's powerful vocals and the Alice In Wonderland inspired 'White Rabbit' has a vocal crescendo creating an unusual haunting anthem all packed into two and a half minutes. Slick's vocals were not all pervasive, however. The standout opener 'She Has Funny Cars' reveals how well Balin and Slick could mix. Balin has some exquisite moments himself with the beautiful ballad 'Today'. The soft and gentle 'Comin Back To Me' is also a favourite as well as the closing 'Plastic Fantastic Lover'. Aside from the highlights there is also some mid-tempo folk rock ('DCBA-25', '3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds') which is not bad and the short acoustic instrumental 'Embryonic Journey' is quite a fine piece. This is very good work overall. Well worth checking out if you are interested in the classics! My rating: Three and a half stars.