ELECTRIC PRUNES
''FEEDBACK''
DECEMBER 15 2006
46:37
1. Hello Out There /4:25
2. Circus Freak /5:05
3. Flying Blind /3:18
4. I'll Give You Feedback /5:16
5. Innerlight Transcendence /4:15
6. Morphine Drip /3:54
7. Tulip Between the Eyes /3:43
8. African Bees /5:01
9. Batch of Violins /4:52
10. Itzomad /6:48
Barbara "Bandshee" Meeks /Additional Personnel, Vocals (Background)
Dan Gerass /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ken Eros /Additional Personnel, Kalimba, Vocals (Background)
Jeff Evans /Additional Personnel, Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Harley Feinstein /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ian Van Der Molen /Additional Personnel, Drums
Joe Dooley /Drums
Peter Lewis /Additional Personnel, Guitar (12 String)
James Lowe /Feedback, Harmonica, Percussion, Producer, Vocals
Pamela Lowe /Additional Personnel
Mark Tulin /Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Vocals
Walter Garces /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ken Williams /Guitar
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
Fans of classic garage rock and psychedelia were pleasantly surprised when the Electric Prunes began playing live shows again in the new century, showing that they were still a force to be reckoned with, but what was all the more startling is that they cut a solid new album in 2001, Artifact, and two equally impressive sets have followed. 2006's Feedback is a tougher and harder-rocking album than the trippy 2004 concept album California, and the opening track, "Hello Out There," captures the Prunes on-stage gloriously raving up and ranting like a band half their age. In many respects, Feedback recalls the material the Prunes recorded on their first two albums back in 1967, though with somewhat more ambitious arrangements and lyrics that more openly confront the constant war between the straight world and the more enlightened minority. ("Flying Blind," however, seems like a veiled attack on the producers and songwriters who swiped the group's identity after their run of hits had dried up.) Guitarists Ken Williams and Mark Tulin can still produce the same fuzzed-out and shimmering noise they generated back in the day (and they get some additional guitar assistance from Moby Grape axeman Peter Lewis), and vocalist James Lowe may sound older but if anything he's even more opinionated and engaged than he was in the '60s, and "I'll Give You Feedback," "Morphine Drip," and "African Bees" shows that he's matured without losing touch with his inner tripped-out teenager. Don't call Feedback a comeback -- this album shows the Electric Prunes have picked up where they left off with the same talent and years of additional experience, and it's wild, intriguing stuff.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richie Unterberger
Though they got considerable input from talented L.A. songwriters and producers, with their two big hits penned by outside sources, the Electric Prunes did by and large play the music on their records, their first lineup writing some respectable material of their own. On their initial group of recordings, they produced a few great psychedelic garage songs, especially the scintillating "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night," which mixed distorted guitars and pop hooks with inventive, oscillating reverb. Songwriters Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz wrote most of the Prunes' material, much of which in turn was crafted in the studio by Dave Hassinger, who had engineered some classic Rolling Stones sessions in the mid-'60s. "Too Much to Dream" was a big hit in 1967, and the psychedelized Bo Diddley follow-up, "Get Me to the World on Time," was just as good, and also a hit. Nothing else by the group made it big, and their initial pair of albums was quite erratic, although a few scattered tracks were nearly as good as those singles. Although they began to write more of their own material on their second album, their subsequent releases were apparently the products of personnel who had little to do with the original lineup. Their third LP, Mass in F Minor, was a quasi-religious concept album of psychedelic versions of prayers; a definitively excessive period piece, its best song ("Kyrie Eleison") was lifted for the Easy Rider soundtrack. None of the original Prunes were still in the lineup when the band dissolved, unnoticed, at the end of the '60s.
DoWnLoAd
''FEEDBACK''
DECEMBER 15 2006
46:37
1. Hello Out There /4:25
2. Circus Freak /5:05
3. Flying Blind /3:18
4. I'll Give You Feedback /5:16
5. Innerlight Transcendence /4:15
6. Morphine Drip /3:54
7. Tulip Between the Eyes /3:43
8. African Bees /5:01
9. Batch of Violins /4:52
10. Itzomad /6:48
Barbara "Bandshee" Meeks /Additional Personnel, Vocals (Background)
Dan Gerass /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ken Eros /Additional Personnel, Kalimba, Vocals (Background)
Jeff Evans /Additional Personnel, Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Harley Feinstein /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ian Van Der Molen /Additional Personnel, Drums
Joe Dooley /Drums
Peter Lewis /Additional Personnel, Guitar (12 String)
James Lowe /Feedback, Harmonica, Percussion, Producer, Vocals
Pamela Lowe /Additional Personnel
Mark Tulin /Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Vocals
Walter Garces /Additional Personnel, Drums
Ken Williams /Guitar
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
Fans of classic garage rock and psychedelia were pleasantly surprised when the Electric Prunes began playing live shows again in the new century, showing that they were still a force to be reckoned with, but what was all the more startling is that they cut a solid new album in 2001, Artifact, and two equally impressive sets have followed. 2006's Feedback is a tougher and harder-rocking album than the trippy 2004 concept album California, and the opening track, "Hello Out There," captures the Prunes on-stage gloriously raving up and ranting like a band half their age. In many respects, Feedback recalls the material the Prunes recorded on their first two albums back in 1967, though with somewhat more ambitious arrangements and lyrics that more openly confront the constant war between the straight world and the more enlightened minority. ("Flying Blind," however, seems like a veiled attack on the producers and songwriters who swiped the group's identity after their run of hits had dried up.) Guitarists Ken Williams and Mark Tulin can still produce the same fuzzed-out and shimmering noise they generated back in the day (and they get some additional guitar assistance from Moby Grape axeman Peter Lewis), and vocalist James Lowe may sound older but if anything he's even more opinionated and engaged than he was in the '60s, and "I'll Give You Feedback," "Morphine Drip," and "African Bees" shows that he's matured without losing touch with his inner tripped-out teenager. Don't call Feedback a comeback -- this album shows the Electric Prunes have picked up where they left off with the same talent and years of additional experience, and it's wild, intriguing stuff.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richie Unterberger
Though they got considerable input from talented L.A. songwriters and producers, with their two big hits penned by outside sources, the Electric Prunes did by and large play the music on their records, their first lineup writing some respectable material of their own. On their initial group of recordings, they produced a few great psychedelic garage songs, especially the scintillating "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night," which mixed distorted guitars and pop hooks with inventive, oscillating reverb. Songwriters Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz wrote most of the Prunes' material, much of which in turn was crafted in the studio by Dave Hassinger, who had engineered some classic Rolling Stones sessions in the mid-'60s. "Too Much to Dream" was a big hit in 1967, and the psychedelized Bo Diddley follow-up, "Get Me to the World on Time," was just as good, and also a hit. Nothing else by the group made it big, and their initial pair of albums was quite erratic, although a few scattered tracks were nearly as good as those singles. Although they began to write more of their own material on their second album, their subsequent releases were apparently the products of personnel who had little to do with the original lineup. Their third LP, Mass in F Minor, was a quasi-religious concept album of psychedelic versions of prayers; a definitively excessive period piece, its best song ("Kyrie Eleison") was lifted for the Easy Rider soundtrack. None of the original Prunes were still in the lineup when the band dissolved, unnoticed, at the end of the '60s.
DoWnLoAd
