Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: The Growing Concern
Company: Mainstream
Catalog: S/6108
Year: 1968
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: seams are intact, but a little worn; minor ring wear
Available: 1
Price: $285.00
For awhile this Mainstream release didn't attract a great deal of attention within collecting circles ... perhaps it was simply a little too poppy for peoples' tastes? That's certainly changed in recent years (witness the price on this puppy).
Like so many acts signed to Mainstream, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of bibliographical information on this outfit. What little we know is largely pulled from the LP liner notes, which in typical Mainstream fashion don't really have a great deal of detail. Sporting a unique two girls, five guys line up the liner notes credit singers Mary Garstki and Bonnie MacDonald, lead guitarist Pete Guerino, keyboardist Dan Passaglia, bassist John Pedley, vocalist Ralph Toms and drummer Ralph Williams.
All hyperbole aside, 1968's "The Growing Concern" is simply a wonderful slice of mid-60s' psych. The set features a mix of six originals penned separately by Passaglia and Pedley and Toms, rounded out by four covers (Fred Neil, Stephen Stills, The Yardbirds, etc.). Musically the sound is probably best described as a mixture of folk rock melodies with plenty of fuzz guitar and waves of reverb (courtesy of Guerino - check out his meltdown performance on "Other Side of Life"), and occasional splashes of Left Banke-styled harpsichord added to the mix. It's always difficult to provide an adequate description of music, but having listened to this LP dozens of times (as a CD-R), an apt comparison might be to The Mamas and the Papas had they dropped the cloying top-40 moves in favor of a decidedly more psychedelic orientation. Exemplified by tracks such as the opener Hard Hard Year", "Edge of Time" (which opens and closes with an almost religious bit of accapella work from Garstki and MacDonald), and a cool cover of The Buffalo Springfield's "Sit Down I Think I Love You", every one of the ten tracks boasts an attractive combination of pretty melodies, great vocal harmonies and nifty psych touches. Male/female harmonies have seldom sounded as good. The album also deserves credit for the underplaying political and social commentary. Tracks such as "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" and "What Kind of Life" reflect an activist agenda, but for once the message is subtle and soft spoken, making it all the more effective. One of the few LPs we'll come right out and say is a "must own" for psych fans.
"The Growing Concern" track listing:
1.) Hard Hard Year (L. Ramsford) -
2.) Edge of Time (Dan Passaglia) -
3.) Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled (John Pedley - Ralph Toms) -
4.) A Boy I Once Knew (John Pedley - Ralph Toms) -
5.) All I Really Want (Dan Passaglia) -
6.) Mister You're a Better Man Than I (M. Hugg) -
7.) What Kind of Life (Dan Passaglia) -
8.) Other Side of Life (Fred Neil) -
9.) I Know a Girl (Dan Passaglia) -
10.) Sit Down I Think I Love You (Stephen Stills) -
Mainstream pulled a single from the LP; "Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled" b/w "A Boy I Once Knew" (Mainstream catalog number 685). The 45 did nothing commercially and as far as we know, marks the end of the group's recording career.
In case you're looking for a cheaper copy, in 1996 the German Golden Reborn Classics label reissued the collection in CD format.