TOUCH [AKA: 20-20 SOUND]

This album is the direct result of what happens when the band members take copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs. Inspired and pretentious, brilliant and unfocused, pop and progressive, and above all self-indulgent. Imagine a blend of Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Nice, but you still won't quite have a handle on it. I can't say I love this album yet (just bought it over the weekend), but I'm really glad I finally got it. It's like a missing link between psychedelic rock and progressive rock, and it's in a class by itself. One moment it's fairly tame 60's rock, the next it's a feedback and effects freakout. Note: the final bonus track, "The Second Coming of Suzanne", is an instrumental recorded several years later, with better sound and lots of mellotron. Even if you don't like the rest of the album, this track is sort of a prog masterpiece that meanders along quietly for a long time, and then turns into a barrage of loud rock and bizarre effects. It makes one wish that the main guy, keyboard player Don Gallucci, had stuck with it (the liner notes indicate that he became a producer). This album is not for purists, though. Most listeners will find something objectionable about each track (the singer's voice, the panning of instruments, the typical guitar work, the overall sense of excess), but the album is still worth having for its uniqueness.