1. Floyd Bledsoe @ Progressive Ears:
Do you remember The Summer of Love? Of course you do. Even if you weren’t even alive yet for this
period in time, you’ve heard stories of hippies, free love, flower power and “turning on, tuning in and dropping out”. If time has faded your memory slightly, our good friend Dr. Silbury recently set the
external force oscillator of the quantum jukebox to the historical year of 1967½ and generated some
tasty sonic tidbits from an alternate era. On the last excursion, the good doctor provided us of a
multitude of destinations for sonic gratification. For this presentation he concentrates on a single
point in the psychedelic continuum. Ok, some of you are probably thinking, “What’s Mr. Ffroyd
on this time? Has he been at the airplane glue again?” Well, the answer to that second question
is no. The trip I’m on is one solely catalyzed by the music of Mooch, a project fronted by Stephen
Palmer, a.k.a. Dr. Silbury. Last year Mooch released the incredible double disc Dr. Silbury’s Liquid
Brainstem Band which featured loads of guest musicians from the space rock community and was
a cosmic masterpiece. On this new disc, there is a single focus of psychedelic music inspired by
the sounds of the Summer of Love. While the cast isn’t as large on this production, there are some
folks making a return appearance. Chris Gill (Star Lighter) does the vocals for most every song on
the disc. Chris has a voice that is custom fit for the psychedelic pop presented here. Eric Schlagzeug
(Mr. Sopht) provides drums on all tracks. Cyndee Lee Rule (Sorceress Sadie) returns with her Viper
violin on one track. Also Don Falcone (Dr. Panacea) supplies soundscapes for one standout track.

As you may have already figured out, all of the music here is done in a retro psychedelic pop style
right out of the late 60s. While not as meticulous as say Brian Jonestown Massacre (who goes as
far as not using any instruments, amplifiers or recording gear that isn’t from the era), the results
here are quite convincing. There’s not much distorted guitar or spacey synths but there is lots of
great organ sounds and plenty of trippy vocal effects. What I found most amazing about this album
is how familiar it all sounds especially tracks like “The Ice Cream Song”, “Wouldn’t It Be Good” and
“English Wisdom”. After only one play, I was singing along almost like I had known the album for
years. The songs are very contagious at first listen and when inspected closer reveal many complex
layers. There is one piece that is a departure from the pop psych stuff. “Haight-Ashbury” has more
of a sonic collage feel with contributions from Don Falcone and Aunty Clockwise (Karen Anderson).
There’s also a speaking part from Alan Sitar Brown. While this is quite different than most everything
on Mooch’s previous album, it does show how versatile Stephen Palmer and company can be.

This is definitely not space rock but fans of that style should have no trouble accepting this one.
Fans of early Pink Floyd, Blossom Toes, The Beatles and just about any 60s psychedelic pop
should check this one out. Looking forward to wherever Dr. Silbury stops on the quantum timeline
next. For more information and to order this disc (oh yea, it also comes in a deluxe edition with
a bonus DVD) go to the AmbientLive page.

2. Simon Lewis @ Terrascope Online:
Meanwhile back in the UK a bunch of Ladbroke Grove freaks, blag a coach and take a trip in the
country, or so it seems, as Stephen Palmer AKA Mooch, re-creates the heady daze of British
psych on his rather excellent album “1967 ½”. Whilst previous Mooch album have been awash
with instrumental spaciness, this album is filled with short whimsical ditties that evoke that late
sixties feel with consummate ease, complete with suitably twisted lyrics that complete the illusion.
After the child-like opener “The Ice Cream Song”, things get stranger with the brilliant “Truth Fairy”
a song filled with effects, phasing, and backward noises, Not since The Dukes of Stratosphere,
has this period been resurrected so well. This standard is maintained on “Sylvester the Protester”
which features a lovely guitar motif, and on “Wouldn’t It Be Good” a song with a definite Pink Floyd
feel, Floyd under the control of Syd of course, as the sing-song verse is interrupted by tumbling
electronics to great effect.

Elsewhere on the disc “In Time” cranks the guitar up for a bit of a freak-out, whilst “Haight Ashbury” features recorded voices and sounds mixed with droning electronics, whilst wistful poetry is read
over the top, creating a dream like feel. On “Early Mornings”, droning sitar and eastern flutes are
blended with organ chords and understated guitar to create the traditional mystical song, before
“English Wisdom” brings us back to earth, the sound of early Moody Blues woven within the song.
Finally “The Tea Song” is a suitably trippy way to end a fantastic voyage that sounds better each
time you listen. The album comes with a pastiche of the International Times and has a lovely
cover as well making it an essential purchase for lovers of UK psych pop.

This album is wonderful, invoking the sounds of the psychedelic sixties, whilst retaining
a freshness and vitality that makes it relevant to today.

3. DJ Astro (Santtu Laakso) @ Psychotropic Zone:
The previous album by Mooch called Dr. Silbury’s Liquid Brainstem Band was already
clearly different stuff than the more ambient releases before it and got closer to the band
concept, but 1967 ½ still took me by surprise, very positively. Steven Palmer had come
up with the idea of making an album full of 60’s styled psychedelia asking his friends
and acquaintances to join in the party. Wonderful!

The album starts off with the amazing, cheerful 60’s styled psych pop number “The Ice
Cream Song” with lyrics about walking around stoned and eating all kinds of goodies.
Excellent! The singer on the album is Chris Gill aka Star Lighter and he has a fine voice
that suits this kind of music perfectly. Pete Wyer plays an interesting guitar solo.
Also “Truth Fairy” is superb, Pink Floyd styled psych pop with soft, marvelous vocals
also including some female backing vocals. The organ plays an important role in this
track and there are also some psych sounds and in the end some acoustic guitar.
The slower, Beatlesque, melodic and rather psychedelic ”Sylvester the Protester”
is a good song with some amazing guitar, nice organ sounds and female backing
vocals too.

The organ-driven ”Wouldn’t It Be Good?” continues the innocent psych pop line of
the first two tracks in the early Pink Floyd style also including some sitar. Another
winner, for sure. There is also some birdsong and psychedelic effects and the ending
is pretty hypnotic. One of my favorites! The heavier, a bit faster psych rocker “In Time”
sort of reminds me of The Open Mind. Really hot stuff! ”Hight-Ashbury” is a hallucinatory
sound collage with narration made by Don Falcone who’s famous for his Spirits Burning
project among other things.

”Early Mornings” begins with sitar and flute and then the vocals, organ and light rhythm
join in. This is a very soft, slow and spacey track. The bright guitars on “English Wisdom”
bring to mind The Moffs from Australia. It’s innocent, melodic and wonderful psych pop,
where Cyndee Lee Rule plays a couple of excellent electric violin solos. Some very good
garage rock is being offered with “Diamond Cutter” that has authentic guitar sound and a
solo, nice organ, great vocals, solid bass work, amazing chorus with string sounds as
well as a psychedelic, whacky ending. Brilliant! ”Lament for Guy Fawkes” is a beautiful
ballad with vocals, organ and bass. The last song is The Beatles-like, slower “The Tea
Song” that ends in a hymn-like praise for tea.

1967 ½ is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year and I can recommend it from the
bottom of my heart to all those reminiscing the Summer of Love and everyone into 60’s
styled psychedelic and melodic rock. The CD comes with a funny, two-page insert that
is like from some alternative hippie paper from 1967 and has for example the lyrics
embedded in it. The album is also available with a bonus DVD disc but unfortunately
I haven’t seen it so no comments on that.

4: Marco Rossi, Shindig! Magazine, vol. 2, issue 7, Nov-Dec 2008:
“1967½ by Mooch is sweet-natured, disarming and very, very English with its songs about hedgehogs, ladybirds, buses, trams, Guy Fawkes, truth fairies, raspberry lollies, cups of tea and soldiers selling daisies. Take careful note and investigate with confidence, Robyn Hitchcock fans.”

5: Jerry Kranitz @ Aural Innovations:
If Dr. Silbury's Liquid Brainstem Band was a departure for Mooch (see AI #37), 1967 ½ represents a whole new era. The first in a planned "sixties" series, the spirit of the summer of love is alive and well both musically and lyrically, but is by no means a mere retro experience. Rather, the album is a continuation of the Dr Silbury story where the good Dr has hooked up the external force oscillator of his quantum jukebox to its calendar in order to travel to the year 1967½, where he experienced an alternate Summer Of Love.

Like Dr. Silbury, 1967 ½ features several guests, including Don Falcone, Karen Anderson, Pete Wyer (from the early Mooch days), Cyndee Lee Rule, and Chris Gill handles all the vocals. Among the highlights is "The Ice Cream Song", a psychedelic tune with a Canterbury-ish flavor. I've read some other reviews of the album and I'm the only one that's mentioned this, so it could be my sense of perception. Maybe it's Chris Gill's vocals, which are similar to Richard Sinclair. In any event, it's an excellent song. "English Wisdom" is another song that struck me as having this Canterbury feel, and also includes tasty licks from Cyndee Lee Rule's always welcome Viper violin.

Syd-era Pink Floyd, The Beatles, various San Francisco bands from the day, and The Dukes of Stratosphere (an earlier revisit to the 60s done up wonderfully by XTC) are all in evidence throughout the album. "Truth Fairy" has some tasty instrumental interludes with freaky efx reminiscent of Pink Floyd and the Dukes, and what sounds like psychedelic harmonica. "Sylvester the Protester" combines a Syd Barrett feel with The Beatles at their most psychedelic. Dig that freaky organ/guitar combo at the end. "Wouldn't It Be Good" features trippy sitar and looped bits and mellotronic backdrops. "In Time" is the heaviest rocking song of the set, with liquid guitar supplementing a driving organ. "Diamond Cutter" is a bouncy rocker with classic 60s organ. And "Early Morning" is a bit different, utilizing ethnic stylings á la Steve's Blue Lilly Commission project as the foundation for a psychedelic song. Tablas, horns, sitar drones… very very cool.

There are 11 songs on the CD only version. If you get the CD+DVD combo (which I've not seen) you get an additional song, videos for some of the songs, original versions of Paul Rowley's songs, a filmed interview with Paul, a video about Haight Street, and various slideshows. One reviewer commented that not since the Dukes of Stratosphere has this period of the 60s been resurrected so well, and I'm inclined to agree. Outstanding songs, execution and production. I'll be looking forward to the next in the series.