ULTIMATE SPINACH

If you are looking for that totally unique sound known as 60s psychedelic rock, you have found it here. Like any other genre, there is good psych and bad. This album is pretty good but not quite great. If the lead guitarist had been a bit better it would have helped.

Like most psychedelic bands the Spinach displays a wide diversity of styles. Some songs sound a bit like Doors styled keyboard driven blues rockers. Other songs that feature female vocalist Debra Hudson are more similar to Curved Air or Its a Beautiful Day. There are also some short instrumental passages that are reminiscent of similar cuts on early Moody Blues records.

The songwriting and arranging are excellent. All the songs were written by the highly skilled keyboardist Bruce Ian-Douglass. The vocals sound good and drummer Keith Lahteinen displays the jazz and RnB influences that were expected of "hippie" drummers back then. Producer Alan Lorber fills the album with great psychedelic sound effects such as reverb and tape loop echo, but rarely reverts to cheap panning effects.

The overall sound and the psychoactive lyrics definitely belong to the 60s and that is why I am only recommending this album for fans of early psychedelic rock or people who want to check out this colorful and creative genre.