Release of the Day: Promise - Promise

It's baffling to me that it took this long for Promise's self-titled record to get the deluxe reissue treatment. This record has been lauded by Sing Sing and notable private-press encyclopedia The Acid Archives. Promise, comprised of Boulder, Coloradans Curt Mangan, Danny Mey, Randy Jones, and Gary York, played power pop that could provide both a punch and a hug; they could play a gentle, comforting pop song but with rock hard hard rock chops, which is to say they were as good at writing songs as they were at their instruments.

Last year, Permanent Records had a handful of sealed originals, which was the inspiration for me to get acquainted with the album, but also made me wonder why they hell it wasn't more available. Enter Got Kinda Lost Records run by Jeremy Cargill, who you may know from Ugly Things. Got Kinda Lost reissued the Promise record late last month. Let me explain how big this is. People have paid $300 or more for originals simply because the quality of the record is exponentially greater than the quantity pressed. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a way to hear the album even if you got a whiff of its presence. Thank God for reissue labels. They're doing God's work. Check out a track below!
 

Release of the Day: Ultimate Spinach - Ultimate Spinach

Hands down the most important book I read all year has been the Acid Archives Second Edition. It's an expensive investment, but worth its weight in gold. This book compiles thousands of reviews in addition to boasting short introductions to lesser-listened-to genres like New Age, Exotica, and obscure Soul. It focuses on private press, rare records generally of a psychedelic bent from about 1965 to 1985. The book is quick to admit that not all of the records that are reviewed are great, but many are and have been passed over, only to become collector rarities to the few who spent time digging through crates at record fairs.

Another thing that I've discovered this year is just how many excellent full albums are available to be streamed on YouTube. I mean, you can find anything there (though most is definitely not good). Anyway, Bill Roe from Trouble in Mind more or less hipped me to the "YouTube Album K-hole," which is when you just keep clicking albums on the right side of the screen to see if you hear something cool. It's basically fool-proof and I've discovered some pretty great jams. Maybe it's that I'm easy to please, but I'd say that most of the albums are worth at least a little attention: it's how I have discovered some pretty incredible records like The Bachs.

Today, I'm discovering and listening to Ultimate Spinach's lone long-player album from 1967 Ultimate Spinach. This band came out of Boston and wasn't happy with three-minute nuggets, so they instead decided to really psych out for extended periods of time, which can be heard in the the first song on the album "Ballad of the Hip Death Goddess." I mean, how badass is that title? I'll answer the question for you - pretty friggin' badass. And it's a great song to boot, starting with a uncanny vocal intro.

The album has familiar vocals, somewhat similar to early Kinks, which is a fairly good reference point to this record. "Funny Freak Parade," is a bouncing nug of psych pop like you'd hear on Kinda Kinks, but it also utilizes non-human vocals and exotic sounds to create a more untamed ambiance to the composition. The following song "Pamela," begins with a baroque organ trill before getting into more folk rock area. The use of classical or baroque-rooted instrumentation is consistent throughout the album, though the band never commits fully to either old-world or new-world music, resulting in something far out that could just as equally played in bars as in cathedrals.