The Strange were an underground art-rock band from Olympia, Washington and Souvenir Album is a re-release of the 1974 release. This is all very interesting, but what it all means I don’t really know. I mean I don’t know if Olympia was a big Mecca for prog-folk or in fact a total back water where nothing interesting ever happened, excuse my ignorance. But anyway that is what it is.
The music is a curious mix of the folksy psychedelic rock with just plain weird hippie artistic flourishes, but in the end the thing that really strikes me is the overall impression it leaves of 70s easy listening. Now don’t get me wrong, this is not in a bad way, but it does sounds like really tripped out easy listening which is just plain odd.
And there are these moments of flanged wah-wah guitars punctuating things, but they never really take off into more rock territory, remaining firmly trenched in a slow stoner vibe. Like stoner music for young families or old people or something. You know the stereotype, old people are supposed to like it soft and calm, not always true, but hell I’m working on a cliché here so never you mind.
Yeah it’s like easy listening for stoned hippies. Yeah like not even easy listening as in it’s folk, but as in that sort of ballad pianoy stuff that lite rock stations play, but it is incredibly psychedelic. Yeah it is a really odd thing to hear. I mean I thought easy listening was supposed to be overly conservative and kind of subtly mean. Well I suppose this isn’t really easy listening so it doesn’t have to be.
Overall it’s not an outstanding album, but there are moments of brilliance in it. “Lies By Poetic License” is particularly strong, it has this loungey ballad thing going on with very hippie-dippie lyrics and softly plucked guitar and one of those keyboards that sound like a flute (I don’t know what it is but you know the sound, find some easy rock albums of the 70s and trust me it will be there) in the background and nice bit of organ and piano. Very softly changing, slowly building, with a serious voice singing softly, yet articulately. It’s just very nice. Makes me think a little of Current 93’s more ballad-like tracks, actually a lot like that. I guess that’s why it stands out for me.
I think I might be liking this album more as I listen to it. Okay hold on let me see what I think at the end. Yeah maybe a little simplistic, maybe not recorded as well as it could have been, but hell overall it’ a pretty decent little druggie-psych listen. Lots of strangeness, and as the liner notes say, possibly dated even at the time, but it still takes you on a nice little trip. So yeah, basically not incredible but really just a nice little psychedelic record.
Related Items
