TOMORROW

One of the leading, and most important, of the British outfits from the brief, late-sixties psychedelic boom, Tomorrow featured a fairly iconic line-up of soon-to-be famous musicians, future Yes guitarist-and-stalwart Steve Howe chief among them. Accompanied by oddball drummer Twink(real name John Adler), popular vocalist Keith West(him of 'Teenage Opera' fame), keyboardist Mark Wirtz and bassist John Wood, Tomorrow were a talented outfit who straddled the (then) increasingly blurred line between straight-ahead pop and multicoloured psychedelia, offering up such catchy nuggets as album-opener 'My White Bicycle', the jocular 'Colonel Brown' and the deceptively-complex 'Real Life Permanent Dream'(as well as an excellent, rocked-up version of The Beatles seminal 'Strawberry Fields'), tracks that laid the blueprint for much of the psychedelic rock-and-pop appearing across Britain in the aftermath of this album's 1968 release. Of course, when compared with the emerging progressive acts - the likes of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes & Genesis as well as fellow psych-purveyors Pink Floyd - the five-pieces kitsch music seems less impressive. However, after several listens, 'Tomorrow' reveals a genuine instrumental clarity, hence the lofty reputation the album affords. And remember: without groups like Tomorrow we wouldn't have prog-rock, as it was bands like they(amongst others) who took the limited three-minute pop-format and(obviously influenced in part by their art school backgrounds) expanded it with the reckless glee of youth that colours so much era-defining pop music. Full of good moments then, this is first rate British psychedelia. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012