Customer Reviews

What a State I'm in

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4 star:		(1)
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First off let me say that TooMuchFun hit the nail on the head with his header.
I was web surfing looking for something to buy and this CD popped up. What a revelation!


As another well known site said: "This is one delightfully strange, even revelatory compilation CD, a cross-section of the Tremeloes' music devoted exclusively neither to hits nor to rarities -- rather, the producers have culled the strangest, most uncharacteristic sides by the band from four years of sessions, with the emphasis on psychedelic sounds, ranging from the Beatlesque psychedelic pop of "Willow Tree" to the dissonant, feedback-laced, volume-pedal, and fuzz box-soaked "Hard Time" (which by itself will be worth the price of admission for fans of Rick West's guitar playing)."

I agree wholeheartedly.
What you get is 24 songs, 1.1 hours of Surprises from a band that was mainly known for Pop Rock.

Here are some highlights from this CD IMHO:

What A State I'm In - 1966 - "The title track. It date-stamps 1966 quite well with some nice GARAGE guitar riffs."

Suddenly Winter - 1967 - "Starts out with a familiar 'Heart' band guitar riff. Nice soft vocal harmony with Psychedelic backward guitar riffs."

Willow Tree - 1970 - "A FINE Folk Rock song up there with the BEST from this time period."

I Swear - 1970 - "A mixture of Psychedelic Pop, Soft Rock and Folk Rock. Good first impression. They switch between sounding like the Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash and the Bee Gees."

Boola Boola - 1970 - "A NOTABLE song with a 'hard to put your finger on' style. NOTABLE drum/guitar work. The guitar work is interspersed between Led Zeppelin, funk, and bizarre. The vocals sound like monks chanting."

I bought is used for $11.48 USD including S/H from amazon's site.
Too bad that the only ones left are sold by 3rd party people with a bad record for satisfaction. :-(.

BOTTOM LINE: I'm so glad that I got it. I was amazed that they had so many songs that didn't chart that are outstanding! Yes there are a few through-away songs but the majority of them would fit right in with a good compilation from this time period.

If you like the psychedelic era this is for you. An odd collection that I am glad I found out about while it's still in print. The musicianship is absolutely incredible. Awesome harmony vocals influenced by and equal to the Beatles(blasphemy?). The "Good Day Sunshine" cover is VERY close to the Beatles version. Quite an accomplishment without George Martin. "Shake Hands(and Come Out Crying)" is worth the price of admission alone. "Be Mine" could have been a cool Beach Boys song(and as general rule I hate the Beach Boys). ........"May you never hear surf music again". "What A State I'm In" sounds like John Lennon singing with some serious psychedelic guitar. Some of the songs will sound conventional when they start, then freakout psych guitar will kick in or very unusual vocals will make your head cock like the RCA dog. "Anything" is an example of this. 30 second sound bites are no good for judging this cd! It is, in my opinion, worth the import price and the wait! Great remastering and liner notes.