LILY & MARIA

LILY AND MARIA was a one-off psychedelic folk anomaly that could only come out in a wild and turbulent year like 1968. These gals were active on the New York City scene from 1967-69 and were regulars at the Gentie's Folk Club in Greenwich Village. The girls met when Lily Isaacs was studying art, acting and music as a teenager when she happened to meet fellow teenager Maria Newman also in the academic scene who had become smitten by the 60s folk music scene. After falling for her folk interests, together they honed their guitar playing and songwriting skills and before they knew it were performing in some of New York City's best locations!

Noticed by the talent executives from Columbia Records, LILY AND MARIA entrered the studios with session players who played with Bob Dylan. It seems the girls had hit the big time as they released their debut self-titled release in 1968, both at the tender age of 21! The album itself featured nine tracks at about 34 minutes of playing time and in addition to the two girls' vocal and guitar contributions was a low-key orchestral backing that included eleven session musicians which added all kinds of guitar sounds, organ, vibraphone, piano, strings, flute, clarinet, bass and drums.

The album is most a slow burner with soothing vocal narrations backed up primarily by soft acoustic guitar strumming and subtle orchestral elements that created a truly 60s psychedelic experience. The album was dreamier than the usual politically charged folk music of the 60s. You have to remember these were the days when Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs were the hottest thing since sliced bread as well as NYC's top folkies Simon & Garfunkel adding chamber pop elements to craft super catchy crossover hits. LILY AND MARIA delivered strange off-kilter melodies that are now referred to as psychedelic or progressive folk music and while the music captured interesting melodies in their own right, they weren't the kind of slick pop ear worms that most fans were eating up during this decade.

While it's not exactly known why LILY AND MARIA's sole release failed to make an impact and garner any interest, it's been speculated that Columbia didn't promote the album and that the heavier acid rock and psychedelic rock bands like The Doors were usurping any dominance of the folk music that had its primary revival in the early 60s before the British Invasion made rock and roll cool again. Whatever the case this album remains a relative obscurity despite being released on a major label however the album has seen a renewed interest in the 2000s as all things prog and psychedelic from the 60s and 70s have become popular again therefore the album has been reissued several times on the Sunbeam label which focuses on all those long lost psychedelic and folky relics of the past.

The closest thing i can compare LILY AND MARIA to would be Linda Perhacs' 1970 release "Paralellograms" but while that album spiraled further into the farthest trips that folk music can take, LILY AND MARIA remained a rather intimate sounding duo focused on the earnest and contemplative lyrical perspectives that offers subtle yet distinct folk guitar chord progressions as well as delivering an interesting background of various supplemental sounds. In the vein of the California duo Kathy & Carol only tailor made for the late 1960s psychedelia scene. While more or less a contemporary folk duo with psychedelic accoutrements agglutinated to the musical flow during the production process, what makes this album unique is the depth and enigmatic themes that show a maturity level of two 21 year olds beyond their years. LILY AND MARIA is a unique obscurity from 1968 that sounds more relevant today than it must've nearly 60 years ago.