The best 60's band youve never heard of....

Ok Greg Watson, you have fooled me. Upon hearing the Orange Alabaster Mushroom for the first time, i was convinced that they were a psychedelic band from the 60's that just never made it big. Discovering that this album came out in 2001 was startling, because it taps into the sound of early British psych/pop ( think Piper at the Gates of Dawn) so perfectly that sounds like it could be a bastard side project of George Harrison, Syd Barrett, and Jon Lord.

"Farfisa organ, gloriously fuzzy guitars, and rattlesnake percussion (plus occasionally the obligatory sitar and trippy backwards tapes) support Watson's deliciously whiny vocals", writes Stewart Mason of All Music Guide, observing the bands dead-on recreation of the 60's British sound. What completes the deception are the deliciously weird song titles such as "Aim the Vimana Toward the Dorian Sector", "Ethel Tripped a Mean Gloss", and "Sydney's Electric Headcheese Sundial", which sound like they are B-sides on early Pink Floyd recordings.

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom is a one man band/project from Canadian singer/songwriter Greg Watson, that somehow perfectly captures the fuzzy psychedelic sounds of the 60's while maintaining an uncanny pop sensibility.....these songs are seriously catchy.

Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom (Earworm Records), contains songs that you are guaranteed to hum to yourself after hearing them once. The song "Sunny Day", feels like the soundtrack to a montage of people happily walking through a park in the 60's, dressed in bright, pastel colors (preferably with matching parasols), while "Your face is in my Mind" is a heavy, organ driven song which starts with a tease of Bach's Toccata and Fugue In D minor before plunging into a pounding drum beat with fuzzy guitar weirdness and an extremely catchy hook.

Production for the album is notably Lo-Fi, and it works. High end production this album would only take away from what is otherwise a very raw sound. There is a scratchiness to every song that makes them feel comfortable and authentic. The only complaint i have about the album is that the songs tend to flow at similar tempos. This however, is easy for me to overlook, because they are so gosh darn good! Watson also accomplishes a rather noteworthy feat--he makes whiny vocals not only tolerable, but downright enjoyable!

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom are a real sonic treat and a seriously hidden gem of 2001--a charming, quirky little band that sure to make you smile while you bob your head.