DEDICATED TO THE BIRD WE LOVE

When i first heard this sole release by the Norwegian band ORIENTAL SUNSHINE i was struck that they sound so much like a San Francisco band who slept in Golden Gate Park during the Summer Of Love and took a trip to India and fell in love with the sitar and decided to record an album together. DEDICATED TO THE BIRD WE LOVE is basically a psychedelic pop album dressed up with all kinds of Indian instruments. In fact of all possible influences that come to mind, it's Peter, Paul & Mary with their pop folky approaches. I keep expecting this album to drift into "Puff, The Magic Dragon" territory with sitars, tablas and Mama's & Papa's references.

This band was basically a duo with Nina Johansen on vocals and guitar and Rune Walle on sitar, guitar and vocals as well but they had a little help from their friends with keyboards, sarod, flute and bass. They were discovered on a TV show called "Talent 69" (the year not the sexual position!!!) What we have here for the most part are psychedelic pop songs that are very mellow. They are slow to mid-tempo and revolve around all the stereotypes of 60s hippies philosophy. While many bands at this point were evolving into the 70s, ORIENTAL SUNSHINE was clearly reflecting the promises of yesterdecade in lieu of the shattered illusions of the present.

While i don't want to diss this album too much for its naiveté or anything of the sort, what really makes this a mediocre listen for me is the okayish lyrics, the nondescript melodies and the inability of anything really standing up and above the other similar styles of the day. I mean, just listen to The Beatles' "Within You Without You" which sounds so much superior to anything that presents itself here. To me, this sounds like campfire songs in a decade when ideals reigned but strategies failed. A soundtrack for a philosophy that got its wings clipped before take off. A nice pleasantry of sort but one that just lacks enough bite to get my saliva flowing. It wouldn't be until the mid-70s that any sort of raga rock with some serious bite would truly take form, but this is a nice little find nonetheless, it just doesn't knock my socks off is all.