ONE NATION UNDERGROUND

3.5 stars really!!!

Debut album released on the famous ESP label (normally an experimental jazz label) in the summer 67 from PBS, a group that focused on Tom Rapp and his taste for mystic, gothic texts. If this debut album sees the group as quartet (plus an invited drummer), including multi-instrumentalist Wayne Harley and Lane Dederer, giving a fairly wide scope for a normal folk rock group at the time. Because ONU is definitely not yet PBS at its purest, often still taking much inspiration from Dylan and The Byrds, but there was a definite will to offer more than that, just their potential had not yet bloomed to its full later self. But the mystic and profound nature of the music is already apparent and not only through the splendid Flemish artworks being represented on the sleeve and the texts.

If it is obvious that Dylan's stature hovers all over side 1, it's quite easy to see in Playmate and the almost jug-band Miss Moore, where PBS almost sound like Dylan's crew on H61R, at other times (Drop Out) it's more The Byrds (Turn, Turn, Turn); but there are also more personal moments like Amber Lady (a collab with keyboardist Crissinger) with its bed of guitar arpeggios under delicates multi-layered vocals that actually is the highlight of the opening side. What might not be really apparent is that Lederer and Harvey are playing a wide array of instruments that allow the tracks to exist on their own

The flipside is much more interesting starting on the haunting Morning.Song, with its gloomy organ, and far-out sitar and a haunting flute. Regions Of May is laying on layers of solemn English horn, and support the The more upbeat Uncle John sounds like an LA garage band track complete with the Vox Continental organ and savage yelling. Totally un-like PBS, yet so much part of them as well. I shall not care is bit in that same frame of mind after a quiet intro and before an astounding middle passage digging in the nightmarish world of Bosch's Gardens of Delights (artwork of the sleeve), before returning to the garage sound. Closing the album is Surrealist Waltz penned (and sung) by bassist Lederer and keyboardist Crissinger.and is yet another highlight on this album.

While its potential is not fully developed yet, PBS put out a highly influential album, PBS made a remarked debut, but it was buried in with the hippie counter-culture. A good debut , but much better is to come.

Tom Rapp owes a deep and obvious debt to Bob Dylan on this Pearls Before Swine debut. Both his phrasing and allegoric lyrical style smack heavily of Dylan, sometimes almost uncomfortably so. “Playmate”, “Morning Song” and “I Shall Not Care” all are culled from the songbook of a long line of Dylan wannabes.

If the entire album fell into this category it would be worth dismissing out of hand, but such is fortunately not the case. Rapp was clearly working hard to find his own voice on these songs, and appears to have relied on his deep knowledge of the Dylan catalog only partially. Elsewhere he shows an experimental side, ranging from an acoustic bard on “Ballad to an Amber Lady”, to a precocious angry young lad on “Uncle John”, to some sort of hillbilly Donovan on the closing “The Surrealist Waltz”. Sometimes the experiments work, often they just miss the mark. “(Oh Dear) Miss Morse” for example combines banjo and mandolin with weird keyboards (harpsichord I’m pretty sure, and a dated electronic analog synth known as a clavioline for an awkward and disjointed little ditty that sounds more like an outtake than something that should have made it onto the final release. “Drop Out!” must have sounded a bit dated even in 1967, and whatever sort of microphone was used for the vocals on “I Shall Not Care” doesn’t fit with the mandolin and banjo arrangements at all, nor do the faux-spacey spoken-word vocals or the minimalist mood.

But in the end this was a promising debut for an American original, or at least someone who would become something of an original. Like the Moody Blues’ ‘Go Now!’, what would follow would be a far cry from the first efforts, and more often than not much more progressive and appealing. If you have never experienced Pearls Before Swine I would not start with this one, but if you find the solo works of Tom Rapp in the early seventies to your liking you may want to check this one out to see what he sounds like as part of a real band, and to hear the early stirrings of what would come after. Three stars (just barely), and recommended mostly to really serious progressive folk fans.

peace

Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground (1967)

Before our beloved progressive movement there once was this attractive psychedelic movement. The songwriting was strong, the innovative atmospheres were under construction and the performers gave the music an authentic (often non-commercial) sound. PBS is one of the bands of the psychedelic scene that stood the test of time. There authentic sounding mixture of Bod Dylan-like song-writing, folk and atmospheric rock remain a winner to this day. This results in still expensive vinyls that are been sought after by vinyl collectors like me.

The main man of PFS, Tom Rapp, is a good song-writer and he has a good voice. On the next album he would sound a bit more professional, but the sixties recording of his voice sound really good. Still his voice sounds a bit strange on the debut, as if he is slissing. The acoustic arrangements on the record are good throughout, whilst the use of the organ evoke a real sixties psychedelic pop-feel. The result is a mix between the best of Leonard Cohen's style and soft psychedelic rock. My only complaint is the big difference in volume between the softer acoustic stracks and the rock tracks. The album has a lot of short tracks and most of them are good - excellent.

Conclusion. If you are interested in soft psychedelic folk with a warm '67 recording this will be a very interesting starting point. Even better would be the slightly progressive (and conceptual) '68 Baklava record of Pearls Before Swine. Three stars and recommended to those interested in late sixties rock/folk. One doesn't have to fear commercial sounding pop, this is REAL music. Worth it's reputation given by the vinyl collectors.

* rectification *

Once in a while I am mistaken. Though I had listened very well to side one of this album, I never really spend time on the second side (that at first seemed to be less attractive). I couldn't have been more wrong. Though the first side has some nice folk and psychedelic pop songs, side two is one masterful string of songs with natural progression and great psychedelic atmospheres. The extremely heavy (for it's time) uncle John with it's heavy lyrics stands out as a brave offering. The ending track, Surrealistic Waltz, is my favorite melodic moment of the album. This track has a dark gothic atmosphere that is hard to describe. Though side one is still a three star affair, side two deserves the full five stars. Which makes up for four stars in total. Excellent proto-prog.

After the initial rock and roll craze died in 1959 with the death of Buddy Holly, the drafting of Elvis Presley, the arrest of Chuck Berry and a scandal involving Jerry Lee Lewis all in the year 1959, the vacuum was filled by surf rock, garage rock and most importantly folk music as teens felt that rock and roll was a bit juvenile and that jumping on the folk bandwagon was more mature. In the USA folk music provided the perfect place to rant about politics, social injustices and all the other ills of society but in the mid-60s bands like The Fugs and Love started to adopt some of the early aesthetics of psychedelic rock and thus a totally new hybrid of psychedelic folk emerged. While much of this was tied to the hippie movement and drug culture, a few acts like Tim Buckley and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE offered a sober reference to a more psychedelically tinged variety of folk music taking it places Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel never dreamed of.

Formed in 1965 in Melbourne, Florida by Tom Rapp, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE found Rapp and his high school friends following in the footsteps of The Fugs and became one of the first American bands to fully embrace the more psychedelic possibilities of folk music without abandoning its more traditional roots. Named after the Bible passes from Matthew 7:6, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine ?." this band found an instant following and was quickly signed to the ESP label which while known for its experimental jazz artists had been the first to discover the bizarre antics of The Fugs. The band released its debut ONE NATION UNDERGROUND, a play on the American motto "One Nation Under God" in the summer of 1967 and stood out from the competition like a sore thumb or should i say sore hoof?

Taking a few cues from Donovan, Rapp infused his folk music with lyrics steeped in history as well as taking stabs at the system with early protest songs about the Vietnam War and infused it with an escapist's dose of psychedelia but not without a touch of humor as heard on the hilarious "(Oh Dear) Miss Morse" which features the word "f.u.c.k." played out in Morse code while an accompanying banjo and psychedelic organ run offer a note of seriousness. The first of four albums before Rapp would carry on as a solo artist, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE was rather unique in its more traditional folk music approach that evokes early Bob Dylan or Nick Drake only infused with a heavy Farfisa organ accompaniment that was more en vogue in the rock world than anything from the more sober world of folk music. The band delivered the odd mix of instrumentation that offered an eclectic mix of the celeste, vibraphone, autoharp, sarangi and even the occasional horns to its odd mix of psychedelic folk rock.

The tracks were quite varied with Dylan-esque tracks such as "Playmate" and "Uncle John" totally contrasting with the more plaintiff seriousness of Leonard Cohen on the opening "Another Time." Sparse folky vibes alternate with upbeat folk rock numbers like "Uncle John" while tracks like "Regions Of May" offer a jazzy touch that features excursions away from the status quo. Add to that an apocalyptic first impression courtesy of the Hieronymus Bosch album cover art and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE instantly stood out as that folk based band that was a bit hard to categorize. The album was quite popular and remains the band's best seller having exceeded 200,000 copies. A tendency to drift into the avant-garde on the track "I Shall Not Care" also stoked interest as it provided the highlight of the band's psychedelic folk style that offered a bizarre deviation from the usual folk flavors of the day.

As the album ends with "The Surrealist Waltz" you know you've entered the twilight zone with dreamy vibes accompanying pastoral folky guitar strumming in 3/4 timing while trippy organ runs and insightful lyrics find ethereal vocal harmonies haunting the backdrop. One of the most unusual early folk bands to hit the scene, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE was more of the melodic cousin to the abrasively anti-folk Fugs that relished in crafting an early proto-punk rebellion in the context of folk music. An interesting band that may take a while to warm up to given Rapp's diverse approach and oft abrasive vocal style but if a roller coaster ride of influences under the guise of folk music sounds appealing then PEARLS BEFORE SWINE is just what the doctor ordered.