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ALBUMS
(blown up album covers taken from Andrew Bergey's Classic Bubblegum Music Page)
Green Tambourine
1. Rice Is Nice (Leka/Pinz) - 2:13
2. Shoeshine Boy (Leka/Pinz) - 3:29
3. Turn Around Take a Look (Bartlett) - 2:49
4. Rainbow Tree (Laguna/Mizrahi) - 2:26
5. Ask Me If I Care (Ehrmann) - 3:11
6. Stragglin' Behind (Leka/Pinz) - 2:38
7. Green Tambourine (Leka/Pinz) - 2:28
8. Blueberry Blue (Leka/Pinz) - 2:32
9. The Shoemaker of Leatherwear Square (Leka/Pinz) - 2:03
10. Fifty Year Void (Lemon Pipers) - 5:48
11. Through With You (Bartlett) - 9:06
NOTE: This album was reissued on CD by Buddha with a bonus track, No Help From Me (the flip of Green Tambourine)
Review Indeed, the Green Tambourine album was a mixed bag. The album began with Rice is Nice, the most saccharine track the band ever cut, one almost too syrupy to bear. Shoeshine Boy, Rainbow Tree, and Blueberry Blue all had childish lyrics, however the instrumentation and the mixing made them enjoyable lightweight psychedelic orchestral pop. Ask Me If I Care was catchy folk/rock, and could have been the Pipers' follow up to Green Tambourine, another highlight to the album. Through With You had the whole band tackling improvisational jamming, featuring a 7 minute instrumental section. Improvisational jamming would be explored further on Jungle Marmalade, the next album. This album is recommended, because it has enough lightweight songs to appeal to "bubblegum" listeners, yet also contains enough psychedelic, folk, and hard rock to appeal to a more contemporary audience.
Jungle Marmalade
1. Jelly Jungle (Of Orange Marmalade) (Leka/Pinz)
2. I Was Not Born to Follow (Goffin/King)
3. Everything Is You (Leka/Pinz)
4. Catch Me Falling (Lemon Pipers)
5. Hard Core (Lemon Pipers)
6. Love Beads and Meditation (Ross/Crane/Gajnos)
7. I Need Someone (The Painter) (Leka/Pinz)
8. Lonely Atmosphere* (Leka/Pinz)
9. Wine and Violet (Lemon Pipers)
10. Dead End Street/Half Light (Lemon Pipers)
*Mirrors was listed as the track's name on the original album sleeve, but apparently it was Lonely Atmosphere
Review
On the Lemon Pipers second LP Jungle Marmalade, there still was an inconsistency with outside material being almost nothing like what the Pipers chose to record. However, the Pipers original songs and execution were a step up from the first album. Wine and Violet was an excellent psychedelic track with backwards guitar, organ, flute, and lyrics that seemed to depict an experience with acid. The Leka/Pinz contributions were not as uniformly strong as on the first album. There, the team was better able to conjure up a childlike world and wonder. Still, the title track was one of their more enjoyable efforts, and could have charted higher than it did. Dead End Street/Half Light was 12 minutes, progressive rock oriented, and might have been the Lemon Pipers finest track aside from Green Tambourine. The lyrics were some of the band's most ambitious, with Bartlett and Nave bringing forth expert solos from their instruments. If this was how the Lemon Pipers played live, one would surely have enjoyed seeing them. At times, the guitar/organ improvisation on the longer numbers (like the aforementioned Dead End Street/Half Light, as well as Catch Me Falling) might remind the listener of Interstellar Overdrive from Pink Floyd's first album. The Lemon Pipers' guitar/organ explorations shifted between louder and softer passages in a similar, if a little less otherworldly, fashion. Overall, I would recommend this album as well (even though it is not on CD) because most cuts would satisfy the psychedelic listener.
