Customer Reviews

Clear Light

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Classic!

In the sixties, I had a tendency to pick up albums based on the photo of the band. I figured if the band looked freaky, their music probably was too. I hated pop music so I always looked for the underground bands. The longer the hair, the uglier, the weirdest dressed, that was my incentive. Clear Light was in that category. They had long hair, one guy looked like Buffalo Bill, and there were six of them. Another attraction was their label. They were on the same label as the Doors and at the time, I was really into the Doors first album. So, I figured they had to be something like them.

Many people can see a nod to the Doors in Clear Light's music, but I did not. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good the music was. It was full of experimental songs, like Black Roses that had more time signature changes than cords. Then there was Sand, with a really good tempo shift guitar solo at the end instead of in the middle of the song like so many others. Everyone that knows this album refers to Mr. Blue. It was unusual for several reasons. It has some pretty neat drumming, great guitar effects and solos, and was over six minutes long. It was not quite Ina Gadda Da Vida, but still unusual for the time. My favorite song though is Street Singer, or as I call it the Organ Grinder Song. As a guitar player, I tried to learn the whole album note for note and actually came close a couple of times.

As with my other favorite albums of the time, I wore it out and was lucky enough to meet my wife in Spain (she's American) and she had a copy of the album too! I was finally able to purchase the Edsel version of their CD with the extra track "She's Ready To Be Free" on it from the movie "The President's Analyst." I have tried to keep up with what the members of the band have been doing over the years but the biggest mystery to me was Bob Seal, their guitar player and leader. He seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, that is until I read the excellent liner notes Mike Staxx wrote for the CD. He interviewed Bob and there are some great anecdotes revealed for the first time.

For those of you looking for a classic sixties album, you can't go wrong with Clear Light. They produced a groundbreaking album that is well worth seeking out.

I first bought this album when I was 14 years old, mainly on the strength of it being on the Elektra label, which up to that point had not issued a single bad album. I also recognized bassist Douglas Lubahn's name, as he had played bass on the first two Doors albums. And on top of all that, they had TWO DRUMMERS!!! How cool was that? (well, to be honest, you couldn't tell by playing the album, but the idea sounded great.)

I played this thing to death for well over a year and I often named them as one of my favorite bands. A nice mix of light weight psych with some occasional fuzz bursts from guitarist Bob Seal, who also sang one of the best tunes on the album. With 35 years perspective, this is not a classic album by any means, but for fans of Love and The Doors and that particular summer of love sound, this album holds many delights. Trivia note: The bonus track, She's ready to be free, taken from the James Coburn movie The President's Analyst, was actually sung by Barry - Eve of Destruction - McGuire in the movie. Watch for it on late night TV.

But alas, they only made this self-tittled work of fantastic music. Im no music critic, but if your into psychedelic/garage rock bands from the 60's, then you wont be dissapointed by getting this album. Best freaking part about this group is that they have two drummers!!!!! Plus, havnt you noticed that the uglier the band memebers the better the music?

In my closet is this album from way back when. I bought it due to the psyechedelia and Electra pedigree, but stuck around long enough to love it on its own terms. It has the elongated song structure, the vision, the transcendental lyrics, the bold manly singer, and most importantly the stretched out fluidity of the music. All of which made the Doors and Love brilliant. But, it is not, I'm sad to say, as good as either. Clear Light had the chops, but not the cajones. As a slice of the best of garage acid trippin', one could do worse. Buy it. Drink and see!

Clear Light may be dismissed by some as a "Doors Lite" band, but I think the material and playing on this CD is outstanding. I was hooked as soon as I heard "Black Roses" with it's amazing time signature changes, played at a breathtaking hardcore punk pace (before the beast ever existed).
Some tracks have the definite Doors-Love sound without the drunken tunelessness of Jim Morrison, so you get movie actor Cliff De Young's great vocals instead. "Mister Blue" even has that "petition the Lord with prayer" dramatics with 100 times more focus.
Favorite tracks: She's Ready To be Free, Sand, The Ballad of Freddy and Larry (about gay love?). Recommended.

I feel it's my duty to stick up for the bands that are not only really good, but also underrated. You know, bands that didn't have much success and therefore most people probably wouldn't remember them today.

Clear Light is one such band. It's really unfair to call these guys (and this album in particular) a Doors rip-off. How do you figure that? Just because there's a few spooky moments, suddenly they're copying what the Doors did? Would Iron Butterfly be considered a Doors rip-off, too?

Clear Light is much closer to Iron Butterfly and the band Love than to the Doors, in my opinion. Further, these guys were really good at experimenting with all the different ways to write a tune, which means guitar solos and all sorts of vocal changes will burst in a completely different direction *very* suddenly. Iron Butterfly used to do the same thing. This is a style of songwriting that NEVER gets old.

I love this album. Seeing as how each of the 12 songs are memorable, I refuse to name which songs are the standouts (but if you forced me to choose, "A Child's Smile" is probably my favorite). Trust me, the whole thing is great. Buy this album now.

A well-produced, energetic minor masterpiece of the
late sixties, I was delighted to see it on a CD reissue.
High production values, good musicianship, tight
songwriting. Their version of Tim Buckley's "Mr. Blue"
has a powerful impact. The opening track, "Black Roses",
is typical of the material, with a complex arrangement
that still swings.

So great to see this album again. I was a mere teen when I
happened to see Clear Light perform in a Newport Beach high school auditorium.
Imagine that,I guess the album had just come out.
Well I was completely blown away, a massive wall of Acoustic
Research amps lined the entire stage. As a guitar player they allready had me.
Then they played. WOW, especially their take on
Mister Blue. I wore out two copies of the vinyl, turning my friends on to it.
This album is chock full of talent & various styles of music. YAY !

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various music supplies and recordings from the 60's and 70's.

Clear Light's self-titled 1967 album will conjure up lively debate every time. The naysayer chimes in that they are nothing more then a B level psychedelic band that was hampered by the production of Paul Rothchild (Doors). The other side of the fence believes this to be one of the most underrated recordings from the 1960's, strongly believes in what Rothchild accomplished, and offers the track "Mr. Blue" as one of the finest cover songs of the era.

What is fact and what is fiction? For Paul Rothchild and Bruce Botnick (Engineer of the Doors) to have been involved in the project and for a major label Elektra to have signed the band, it was obvious then and is now these guys had something to offer.

The opening track "Black Roses" mixes nicely the psychedelic and American garage rock of the sixties. "Sand" turns up the intensity and shows this is an album that needs to be listened to straight through. "A Child's Smile" features a vocal closer to the English sounds of the time and they pull off the change of direction well. "Street Singer" is dark; it takes you to the edge, and is haunting and captivating. "The Ballad Of Fred & Larry" immerses you into the psychedelic sound with a clever keyboard mix. "With All In Mind" can be compared to the Beatles -"Dr. Robert" meets the Byrds in their country phase and joins "Journey To The Center Of The Mind (Amboy Dukes). They key track is "Mr. Blue." Forgotten is the song was written by folk artist Tom Paxton. The Clear Light version is without a flaw. Superlative doesn't give it the justice deserved. The vocal and instrumentation mesh for a perfect rendition. It received some minor airplay and in all honesty deserved better long time fate. This is a true treasure from the era. "Nights Sound Loud" is in your face and packing a wallop. The energy level is tremendous as the band shows even further their diversification.

If you can believe it the record is now 40 years young. Don't be turned off when a band is compared to one of the greats. There is nothing wrong with paying homage to the Doors. The only thing that counts is how did the finished product rate in the mind of the consumer. Since Collectors Choice Music was willing to reissue this on their own label, the fans have clearly spoken and shined the light.

Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

Being a huge fan of Sixties surf, garage, British Invasion, folk, and psychedelic rock, I thought I had heard of every really good band of the era, and was surprised that I had never heard of a group as good as Clear Light until early this year. The band was so obscure that it was not represented on the American Nuggets boxed set or even on the L.A. Nuggets boxed set, despite having a few songs that were definitely good enough to have been included.

Clear Light released this album in 1967, and it is consistently good--"Black Roses," "Mr. Blue," "They Who Have Nothing," and especially "She's Ready to Be Free" are the best on the disc. One wonders why they never hit it big--the liner notes state that the band was plagued by dissension, but many bands back then probably had their share of infighting. Clear Light may not have been in the same class as, say, The Byrds, but a single listen of this CD will demonstrate that they deserved far better than the absolute oblivion that was their ultimate fate.