Michele-Saturn Rings '69 CA folk psych gem West Coast popsike Curt Boettcher
$
42
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Description
(Boettcher) Michele-Saturn Rings (ABC 683 Stereo) strong VG with VG cover DJ sticker on F/C and "WWAS" radio station call letters written on F/C and B/C. Comes with the original ABC Records printed inner sleeve.
Groovy 1969 CA folk psych gem of dreamy Eastern-influenced West Coast pop produced by Curt Boettcher. Includes alternate version of Sagittarius' "Would You Like To Go.”
Michele O’Malley's Sole Album is an Unfairly Neglected West Coast Folk-psych Gem. Featuring the Involvement of Cult Legends Such as Curt Boettcher (Sagittarius, Millennium), Lowell George (Little Feat) and Elliott Ingber (Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart), it's a Dreamy Collection of Eastern-influenced West Coast Pop that Deserved to Achieve Much Greater Success on Its Original Release in 1969. (Amazon review)
Here's a haunting charmer that slipped through the cracks decades ago, fully deserving of rediscovery now. Fans of The Ballroom may be disappointed (as a previous reviewer understandably was), because Michele O'Malley's solo album ventures into slightly different, slightly darker territory, where regrets & loss often turn into deep longing & pain ... and yet there's a transcendent quality to much of this album, a burning away of pain that's worth the suffering, in order to arrive at a clearer, more personally & spiritually whole place. Michele's self-penned songs especially have this intense quality, which plays well as counterpoint to the bittersweet sunshine pop she was associated with prior to this album. It's a pity it was neglected when initially released -- but it's here now, and perhaps even more moving for those who have grown as old as the album. Not for every taste, to be sure, but recommended for those with yearning souls -- the cover art alone should tell you whether it's for you or not! (Amazon review)
Michele O'Malley's "Saturn Rings" is a record I had been recommended for some time before I actually bought it after minimal listens on CD Universe. I was not sure of what to make of "Saturn Rings" from the descriptions that other reviewers had given it, but I am already glad I bought it even less than a week after my first listen.
One reviewer compared "Saturn Rings" to Buffy Sainte-Marie's equally commercially unsuccessful Illuminations: an accurate comparison in the sense that both records are densely orchestrated and aim to transform the sound of folk music beyond the familiar guitar-type sound. However, whereas Illuminations did this with new technology, "Saturn Rings" relies almost exclusively on orchestration to make folk music sound denser and more emotional than the classic sound of traditional folk.
The songs here are generally short and very quiet in tone, but Michele's coice is sufficient at virtually all times to make the listener severely ache. This is particularly seen on the opening track "Would You Like to Go", which despairs for a return to an innocent or golden past like very few other songs. The line "Where choruses of angelic hosts/Sing alleluia" is particularly sad and fitting. The next three tracks were written by Michelle herself and are more accessible but aching. "Fallen Angel", with some wonderfully incomprehensible mystical lyrics and tight opening groove, is the best of these especially when Michele sounds upfront near the end with dramatic glossolalia. "Spinning, Spinning, Spinning" is heavily orchestrated but quietly beautiful
The following three tracks are much longer and move from very simple quiet to dense orchestration. On Bobby Jameson's "Know Yourself", Michele really stakes her claim as a "thinking", independent woman with the tone of her voice on the quiet parts, yet oddly seems joyful on the faster choral part. It holds together well and a person of my interests (sociology, anthropology, sex roles) can see the song as almost like a woman coming to terms with her nature.
"Musty, Dusty" enhances the vocal tone of the previous track to a truly creepy acoustic beauty, whist the epic "Lament of the Astro Cowboy" is even sadder yet denser and more pasisonate. "White Linen", the fourth and last self-penned song here, must be one of the saddest songs to come out of the ecstatic 1960s, and despite its slightness it stands as catchy and beautiful in a rare combination. The two final tracks, "Misty Mirage" and "Believe You", were written by Curt Boettcher and were the purest pop pieces her without losing the virtues of beauty and sad emotion that made the rest of "Saturn Rings" so good. The singalong finale of "Misty Mirage" is quite surprising
All in all, "Saturn Rings" stand as a most surprising piece of psych-folk that has a beauty and emotional resonance rare in any genre. The cover, reminding one of Tori Amos, is as creepy and beautiful as the music, too. (Amazon review)
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