NO TO CO Nikifor 1968 Polish psych Pet Sounds Boettcher
$
33
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Description
Pronit label pressing of this intriguing album from Poland’s NO TO CO, “Nikiforâ€, from 1968. Not sure if this is an original pressing or not – the label’s hot pink and the number is XL 0493. This one came to me straight from Poland, where I was told these guys (all seven of ‘em) were real pioneers of popsike in their homeland. They may be, but then again, how many competing bands can you name? As it turns out, No To Co seem to have a good idea of what makes a song psychedelic, but no real clear idea of how to put those sounds together. It’s almost as if someone gave them a list of the elements but forced the band to come up with their own plan of constructing a song. That being said, I like this album a LOT. It represents a unique vision of music that more successful bands would never try. For example, No To Co combines big blasts of fuzz guitar with bleating horns and a crunching rhythm on “The Green Bridgeâ€, a clumsy lo-fi Eastern European slab of freakbeat that’s very crude but kinda cool. A backdrop like that would normally call for some raw, soulful vocals – that’s what freakbeat’s all about, right? But No To Co don’t know that – so their clean-cut Vogues-like pop harmonies are WAY out of place. But if you’re like me, you’ll learn to love ‘em. A song title like “Cow Bell†might summon up visions of bell bottoms and Foghat 8-tracks, but the song itself is more of a homage to the late 60’s UK sound. What with its distorted guitar sound just like the guitar in Tomorrow’s “Revolutionâ€, high-pitched backing vocals like those in the Who’s “A Quick Oneâ€, and chunky popsike rhythm like countless British Rubble bands. All well and good, but no one told the guitarist, who wanders off mid-song with a couple awkward liquidy Hendrix riffs, then stops cold. You can almost HEAR the band give each other a couple quick, confused looks, then regroup and launch back into the original song! Simply priceless stuff! Of course, no self-respecting psychedelic album from 1968 would be complete without a stab at Eastern sounds, and No To Co give it the old Uniwersytet try on “Near My Cabin†– and for a minute or two, it exotic rhythm and finger cymbals lend a credible air of authenticity. But again, we’re talking No To Co here, and it’s not long before the bellydance rhythm morphs into a more East European polka. And by the time the mariachi horns kick in (yes, MARIACHI HORNS!), this song has clearly become some sort of demented international house of mayhem. But I ask you, where ELSE are you gonna hear such a combination of clashing musical styles, put together with the same kind of naïve ambition as a 5-year-old girl making her first dinner. And yet, for all No To Co’s trial-and-error style of song construction, it’s at the end where, somehow, they actually manage to get everything just right. “The Anchor Bar†is a perfectly realized, exquisite soft pop homage to Pet Sounds/Smile era Beach Boys, Curt Boettcher and Sagittarius – and surprisingly, there’s no sudden Hendrix solo or bluegrass break to spoil the mood. Of course, it’s sung in Polish, as is everything here, but somehow, someway, No To Co have created a soft harmony pop gem that, if you didn’t know better, you might think was Curt Boettcher’s long-lost attempt at capturing the untapped Warsaw market. There’s more terrific baroque pop harmonies on “I Have Never Been in San Francisco†that might almost be the Left Banke Polski. Sure, they might have never been to San Fran, but if they did, they sure coulda taught those West Coast bands a thing or two about deconstructing, and reconstructing, music.
Winning bidder pays $4.00 media mail shipping in the US, $8 air mail to Canada, $12 everywhere else. Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted. Please be sure to check out my other auctions for more vinyl obscurities, and I will gladly combine shipping costs on multiple wins.
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