GRASS AND WILD STRAWBERRIES

The second album from the Collectors should have been a real peak of psychadelia as it is a full-blown ecological concept (albeit with hippy ideals that pervades from those magic years), but strangely so, the album is almost a step backwards in the songwriting - sounding more like the 60's.

Although there are many excellent moments on the record, I feel that this album is more drawn to the Moody Blues than their debut (which was more axed towards HP Lovecraft and Vanilla Fudge), some of the highlights are Things I Remember and the Spirit-like Teletype Click.

However smoothly most of the album runs along the road, there are a few bumps, most notably the My Love Delights Me - which sounds like Hey Nonie Nonie (done by Sladfe a few years later) - a relatively deceptive Dream Of Desolation - which does not sound desolate enough to this writer - and an Early Morning - too pop-ish for an early morning. However, the finale is riveting and maybe the best moment of the album (bringing you back to the previous album) and a fitting ending to an ambitious project.

Can one throw stones at an innovator or an adventurer? My guess is NO, (even if I am sometimes harsh towards some prog artistes), and these guys will do some more musical venturing under the Chilliwack name. But this is another story, and this album, although quite worthy has a hard time living up to its debut.