THE CROME SYRCUS

While starting out as a typical garage rock band in the Pacific Northwest and then relocating to San Francisco, THE CROME SYRCUS began to take a new form once it recruited jazz pianist Ted Scheffler and bassist Lee Graham who was also well versed in the world of jazz with the Seattle Jazz Quintet. Before the band recorded its first album though the band took a very strange side track into the pop world by convincing a New York City ballet enthusiast to allow the band to adapt a 26-piece original score for "Opus 65" for a new ballet called "Astarte" which the band premiere in New York at the end of 1967.

The band had great management including that of Bill Graham and soon found themselves opening for some of the biggest acts of the day including Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds, Iron Butterfly and Lou Reed. The year 1968 is when THE CROME SYRCUS tackled the contemporary world of psychedelic pop rock with its one and only album LOVE CYCLE as well as a string of singles, many of which weren't featured on the album. After its move to San Francisco the band adopted the hippie ethos as clearly displayed on the colorful album cover that reflects the West Coast scene of the late 1960s.

THE CROME SYRCUS though was a different breed and one that consisted of classically trained musicians whose talent was far above the mere world of pop which allowed LOVE CYCLE to interweave various elements of complexity which has heralded it as one of those early proto-prog albums but for the most part what THE CROME SYRCUS delivered was a typical psychedelic pop album of the era with soulful vocals and a few extra touches that placed it out of the norm (other than the side long title track). The A-side consisted of five tracks that took on more guitar oriented garage rock such as on the opening "Take It Like A Man" to the more tender soulful ballad style of "You Made A Change In Me." On the A-side the most dynamic track is "Crystals" which featured a typical acid rock / pop type of construct only with slightly off-kilter grooves and rhythms.

"Never Come Down" took on a Traffic sort of soul pop sound while the super short "Woman Woman" offered more of a honky tonk piano based Paul McCartney vaudeville affair. The B-side consisted entirely of the 17-minute plus title track which is what set this album apart from the competition. At this point very few artists engaged in side long tracks that meandered through various motifs and mood settings. While it starts out with a spoken narrative, it morphs into a flute and organ piece and then a slow plodding almost liturgical vocal performance. The organ sounds just slightly like the organ melody on Pink Floyd's "Saucerful Of Secrets" which actually was released after LOVE CYCLE which itself came out in February 1968. While the track is a bit long and plodding at times and features some clear Beatles worship, the band was clearly onto something by offering a unique slice of experimental rock at a time when such things were only beginning to blossom.

While the band released one more single in 1969 it would never release anything else however existed in one form or another until 1973 at least officially. While not what i'd call one of those long lost classics, THE CROME SYRCUS' sole release is certainly one worthy of exploration for those who are looking to trace the origins of progressive rock or just love to imbue themselves with the lesser known sounds that the 1960s had to offer because after all even these types of albums that weren't consistently perfect still offered insight into how the entire future of more ambitious rock music developed.

Personally i like this one even if it feels more a bit disjointed in how the various tracks are all over the musical map. LOVE CYCLE is a worthy art pop relic from the past that really is as colorful as the album cover suggests even if not executed to its maximum potential. The psychedelic pop / rock sounds mixed with interesting guitar contributions, classical choral music, orchestrations and pastoral flute sequences offer some of the more interestingly diverse offerings from 1960s San Francisco and although not as focused or developed as other contemporary acts such as later Jefferson Airplane or the wild antics of H.P. Lovecraft, THE CROME SYRCUS nevertheless dropped one of the most distinguished and unique expressions of free love in musical form at a time when the Haight-Ashbury hippie scene was in full swing. Sure it sounds dated but that's the beauty of it. It actually transports you back to the era like a musical time machine.

3.5 rounded down