One of the greatest bands to emerge from the psychedelic explosion of 1967, the Electric Prunes scored a couple of hit singles that year with “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)” and “Get Me To The World On Time” before vanishing into a vortex.
Because the Los Angeles, California band was basically here today, gone tomorrow, an aura of mystery proceeded to surround them. Just who were these brilliant guys and what was their story? Three decades after pulling a Harry Houdini, the Electric Prunes returned from the dead, and since then they’ve released several amazing albums that remain totally true to the type of music that volleyed them to the top of the technicolor totem pole in the first place.
The band’s latest album, WaS (Prune Twang Records) posts as yet another exciting exposition of daring creases and curves. Replete with stacks of static fuzz guitars and blankets of buzzing distortion, supplemented by left-field melodies, ghostly organ maneuvers, and quirky lyrics, the Electric Prunes manage to stick hard and fast to their original philosophy without sounding contrived. The band’s delivery and dictation is pure and honest, resulting in a production percolating with edgy energy.
Surging forth with squiggly reverb and mesmerizing drums beats, “Frozen Winter” is an acid-baked beauty, while the droning “Circles” squeals and squalls with similar cell-altering effects. “Tokyo” coils and boils with whipping rhythms, and a cover of the blues standard “Smokestack Lightning” is positively petrifying.
Dripping with despair and a hanging by the seat of the pants feel, “Between The Cracks” further plugs in as a banner cut, where the moody gothic-styled ballad “Love Fade Away” features a cute and cheesy spoken word interlude a la teen idol fare, and “Getting High” ripples and rustles with force. Then there’s the bippity-boppity “Bullet Thru The Backseat,” which shakes and stutters to a power popping new wave flare.
Stitching together cosmic impressions with spellbinding sonics, WaS is magic mushroom garage rock at its best. A variety of expressions fire the album, ranging from sinister to humorous to thought-provoking. Not a boring moment is to be had, with each wiggy track sporting its own special personality. Fun, funky, and reeling with revelations, WaS makes for an incredibly enlightening expedition, brought to you by a band that not only loves what they do, but has the talent to inject inventive ideas into vintage concepts.
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