TAKES OFF

This stuff was probably influenced quite much by The Byrds, having strong harmony vocals and ringing sound of the guitar (probably not same 12-string Rickenbacker, though I'm not certainly sure). The syringe scratches out nice slightly psychedelic American mid 1960's pop/rock music with amplified folk elements included, and it's a really nice product of it's time. If you flip in the remastered CD with bonus tracks, you get also a bunch of very fine extra material, not fuzzy leftovers or radio tapings (I guess they can be found from some other hardcore compilations also).

The style of the band in this time was not the most calculated sunshine bubblegum pop possible, but neither the most unrestrained piece of pop art. Compositions are good, but none of them seems like a total masterpiece. Signe Anderson is not bad singer either, but disappears quite much to the harmonies of multilayered singing layers, "Chauffeur Blues" offering however a rare glimpse of her solo vocal performance potential. The following hey-day recordings of the group can be seen to evolve from this material quite logically, featuring a more aggressive lady singer and exploding the imaginative ideas to wilder direction. Some of the songs were also played later on the live stage by the most famous line-up, like "It's no secret", and the bonus track "High Flying Bird".

If you are interested to hear the band without Grace Slick who would land to the band from The Great Society to the next (true classic) record, and like the style presented you shouldn't be disappointed by the album. Any fan of the band should not in my opinion lower their interest toward this record due different singer, as the music is quite good o this historical LP.