>>>>> Thursday, May 19, 2005 >>

Guten Morgen, from the Radioactive World of Psychedelia

Greetings everyone from my new digs in the Midwest! This'll hafta be a shortie, as I'm still getting settled in and I'm already on a deadline at my new job!! My new commute is rather lengthy, at least temporarily, but I've kept some good company in the form of the sole record from the sixties psych band Morgen. The 1969 album has been reissued twice in recent years, once by World Psychedelia and again by Radioactive Records. Both versions of this killer album are available from Forced Exposure, with the following different descriptions:

Radioactive:

"Singer/guitarist Steve Morgen and company originally hailed from Long Island, New York. Signed by ABC's short-lived Probe subsidiary, their 1969 debut Morgen teamed them with producer Murray Shiffrin. After this superb debut the entire band quite simply disappeared. If you're into heavy psych guitar, then this is for you. While Morgen had a competent, if limited voice, he was a truly amazing guitarist with the likes of Nick Saloman of Bevis Frond becoming a staunch advocate of Morgen's status as a 'psychedelic guitar hero'. Tracks such as 'Eternity In Between', 'Welcome To the Void', 'Of Dreams' and 'Beggin Your Pardon' (Miss Joan) were simply drenched with fuzz and feedback guitar. Underpinned by Maiman's powerhouse drumming (easily compared with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham) and suitably trippy lyrics and you're looking at a pseudo-classic slice of psychedelia."


World Psychedelia:

"ABC Record's valiant attempt at the 'hip/youth' market, Probe, released many memorable LPs by such groups as Saint Steven and The Litter along with debut offerings by Zephyr, Soft Machine and Rare Bird, but none generate the frenzy at this late date quite like the quartet led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Morgen, first unleashed in 1969. Even before dropping needle on groove, the stark black-and-white sleeve with inset Edvard Munch lithograph, in contrast to the multicoloured hues so prevalent then, makes an immediate statement. And then the music makes another immediate statement... A foreboding bass riff and staccato drumming introduce 'Welcome To The Void', and for the next thirty-eight minutes one is hurled headlong into a vortex of dual-guitar overload, lyrically woven with romantic and Victorian imagery residing on a tab of microdot. World Psychedelia has at last given this near-perfect album a proper presentation, reproducing the original insert with new transcriptions of the handwritten lyrics and, for the first time, including the rare 7" mono versions of 'She's The Nitetime' and 'Of Dreams'. Radio stations didn't bite on the single, Probe closed up shop, and the world became a decidedly sadder place."



Basically, the record rules. It's not yr typical tripped-out hippie-psych with loads of dated reverb and echo, nor is it garage rock in the Nuggets sense; rather, I hear a lot of Cream and Zeppelin, a little Hawkwind, a dash of the Doors, and even some Allmans in there. You'll probably hear something else. Whatever, enjoy!

Morgen - Welcome to the Void
Morgen - Eternity In Between


N/P Mercury Rev - Yerself is Steam


// posted by Jonathan Wright @ 10:06 AM permalink
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