Before The War 1968 Album

Bo Grumpus

"Are you sure you know where it's really at?" Just a line from this curious record from the hippie era which sprung from a folk duo out of Boston. One thing led to another, the duo became a group and moved to New York, and somehow hooked up with Felix Pappalardi - the same Felix of Cream and Mountain fame. He produces, fills in all of the instrumental gaps, and by all accounts whatever band their was had fallen under Felix's loose grip, because if you've ever wondered what a purely psychedelic pop album under his aegis would sound like, this is a pretty fair approximation. The odd name fits. They generally come off like a very spaced-out version of The Lovin' Spoonful, liberally taking splashes of California pop and harmonies, but never getting very heavy other than the random distorted guitar strum here and there. At points, it's eerily piercing, despite the relaxed feel ("Think Twice", "If I Came To You"), but often it is simply lackadaisical ("Brooklyn", "Ragtimely Love"). For lovers of psychedelia but beyond that interest may be mixed.