| Behold & See | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1968 | |||
| Recorded | April 13–24, 1968 Mayfair Studios, NYC | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 50:55 | |||
| Label | MGM | |||
| Producer | Alan Lorber | |||
| Ultimate Spinach chronology | ||||
| ||||
Behold & See is the second album by the American psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach, and was released on MGM Records in August 1968 (see 1968 in music).
The album came at the tail-end of the group's commercial success with their Top 40 debut, Ultimate Spinach , a direct product of the marketing campaign known as the Bosstown Sound. However, the Sound's advertising had begun to have an adverse effect on the Boston bands that spearheaded the movement, leading to Ultimate Spinach's popularity to go on the decline by the time the group initiated recording sessions.
Lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Ian Bruce-Douglas, again, fronted Ultimate Spinach throughout the recording process. For the album, female vocalist Barbara Jean Hudson was reserved to backing vocals while guest singer Carol Lee Brit is featured on "Where You're At". [1]
However, sessions were plagued by acrimony and hostility between Bruce-Douglas and his bandmates over both the pressures of repeating the success from their first album, and the group's disappointing performance at the Fillmore West. [2]
As a consequence, much of the band's playing is more subdued and dispassionate, and, overall, lacks the striking keyboard solos found on Ultimate Spinach. [3] Still, as described by music critic Gary Burns, Behold & See is, like its predecessor, a concept album "unified by the darkly utopian vision and domineering personality of Bruce-Douglas". [4]
Reception on the album is generally mixed, with Richie Unterberger, writing for AllMusic, being critical on Bruce-Douglas's lyrics, saying they "are unintentional hippie parodies without any irony or humor, whether solemnly aspiring to a beatnik state or indicting the straight world". [5]
Peter Lovell, while reflecting on Ultimate Spinach's role in the Bosstown Sound, writes that despite the album's shortcomings "fans will find plenty to like and Douglas comes off well. He's got the songs and the trippy lyrics and his playing is equal to the first album. His ideas are strewn though the LP". [6]
In a positive review, Gary Burns contemplates that Behold & See deserved better reception from critics at the time of its release, and was disappointed by the alterations made on the album's reissue. [4]
The album was released in August 1968, and stalled at number 198 on the Billboard 200. [5] Shortly after Behold & See was distributed, Bruce-Douglas departed Ultimate Spinach, and essentially disbanded the group, although an almost entirely new lineup would release one final album in 1969. [7]
In 1995, Big Beat Records reissued Behold & See remastered on compact disc. The effort was spearheaded by the album's original record producer Alan Lorber, and designated as the "director's cut". It is 10 minutes shorter than the LP version, with the song "Visions of Your Reality" removed, the track listing altered, and "Fragmentary March of Green", "Jazz Thing", and "Mind Flowers" also being edited. [1]
All the songs written by Ian Bruce-Douglas.
Garage rock is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars and other instruments, sometimes distorted through a fuzzbox, as well as often unsophisticated and occasionally aggressive lyrics and delivery. Its name derives from the perception that groups were often made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, although many were professional.
Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid- to late 1960s. Much of the band's music was written by founding members Country Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton, with lyrics pointedly addressing issues of importance to the counterculture, such as anti-war protests, free love, and recreational drug use. Through a combination of psychedelia and electronic music, the band's sound was marked by innovative guitar melodies and distorted organ-driven instrumentals which were significant to the development of acid rock.
The Music Machine was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. Fronted by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Sean Bonniwell, the band cultivated a characteristically dark and rebellious image reflected in an untamed musical approach. Sometimes it made use of distorted guitar lines and hallucinogenic organ parts, punctuated by Bonniwell's distinctively throaty vocals. Although they managed to attain national chart success only briefly with two singles, the Music Machine is today considered by many critics to be one of the groundbreaking acts of the 1960s. Their style is now recognized as a pioneering force in proto-punk; yet within a relatively short period of time, they began to employ more complex lyrical and instrumental arrangements that went beyond the typical garage band format.
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is the debut solo and third studio album overall by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the only solo album released during her lifetime.
Ultimate! is a comprehensive career retrospective album by English rock group the Yardbirds. The 52-song two–compact disc compilation was released in 2001 by Rhino Records. The tracks span the period from the group's first demo recordings in 1963 to the last singles in 1968. They include all 17 of the group's singles, both A-side and B-sides, supplemented with more than a dozen album tracks, their performance for the film Blow-Up, and three early solo numbers by singer Keith Relf.
Ultimate Spinach was a short-lived American psychedelic rock band from Boston, Massachusetts which was formed in 1967. In terms of style and national recognition, the band was one of the most prominent musical acts to emerge from the "Bosstown Sound", which was a marketing campaign posing as a regional attempt to compete with the San Francisco Sound. During the group's existence, they released three albums, with their self-titled debut the most commercially successful.
Randy Holden is an American guitarist best known for his membership of the West Coast acid rock group Blue Cheer and performance on their third album, New! Improved! (1969). His solo album Population II (1970) is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Holden is also a painter.
Groovin' is the third album by the rock band the Young Rascals. The album was released on July 31, 1967 and rose to #5 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, number 7 on the R&B chart, and number 2 in Canada. Eight of the songs were released on singles with the title track reaching number 1 on the Pop chart in the U.S.
"Wishful Sinful" is a song by American rock band the Doors. Group guitarist Robby Krieger wrote the tune, which was first released in March 1969 as a single, as well as on the band's fourth album, The Soft Parade, later in July. "Wishful Sinful" follows the general theme of the album by incorporating elements of classical music.
Ultimate Spinach is the 1968 self-titled debut album by the American psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach, and was released on the MGM Records label (E/SE-4518) simultaneously with the debut LP of two other Boston-area bands, Beacon Street Union and Orpheus. Both albums were heavily promoted by the label as being representative of the "Bosstown Sound". The commercial ploy was heavily driven in psychedelic music that attempted to replicate the San Francisco Sound.
"The Good's Gone" is a song by English rock band the Who, written by their guitarist Pete Townshend. Initially recorded and sequenced as the third track of their debut My Generation in December 1965, it was released as the B-side to "La-La-La-Lies" in November 1966. Heavily inspired by Ray Davies song "See My Friends", Townshend wrote the track with blues in mind.
Apple Pie Motherhood Band was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1967. One of the several groups involved in the "Bosstown Sound", a commercial ploy designed to compete with the San Francisco Sound, the band developed a blend of psychedelia, blues rock, and hard rock, which was exemplified and expanded upon on their two albums. The group went through several line-up changes before disbanding in 1970.
The Bonniwell Music Machine is the second and final album by the American garage rock band, The Music Machine, recorded under the renamed moniker, The Bonniwell Music Machine, and released on Warner Bros. Records, on February 10, 1968. As with their debut LP, the album again saw the band blending garage and psychedelic rock influences, albeit with a greater emphasis on psychedelia than on their previous album release. Prior to completing its recording, all of the group's original members, except for its creative force, Sean Bonniwell, departed, though they would still appear on some of the album's tracks.
The Freeborne was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1966. The band was one of the numerous groups associated with the "Bosstown Sound", and is noted for releasing one eclectic album, Peak Impressions, in 1967, which exemplified the young members' versatility embedded in psychedelia.
Raw 'n' Alive at the Cellar, Chicago 1966! is a live album by the American garage rock band the Shadows of Knight, and was released on Sundazed Records in 1992. The album consists of recordings from the band's appearance at the Cellar in Arlington Heights, Illinois in December 1966. Although the tapes were never anticipated to be released publicly, Raw 'n' Alive at the Cellar is commended for its good sound quality, and represents one of the better live concert recordings to emerge from the garage rock era.
The Lost was an American garage rock and psychedelic band from Plainfield, Vermont who were active in the Boston rock scene 1960s. They were initially an interracial rock band, one of the few at the time, and, along with the Remains and the Rockin' Ramrods, later became one of the most popular live acts in Boston, landing a contract with Capitol Records. In spite of having a regional hit with their first record, they were unable to find greater commercial success and broke up in 1967. In the intervening years their work has come to the attention of garage rock collectors and enthusiasts with the release of the anthology, Early Recordings and Lost Tapes, on Arf! Arf! Records.
Creation of Sunlight was an American psychedelic rock band formed originally as a cover group in Long Beach, California, in 1968. Though much of the group's history was initially unknown—even their name was obscured—overtime they have come to the attention of psychedelic music enthusiasts for their sole album, which was released in 1969. The Creation of Sunlight's sound incorporated different aspects of their California contemporaries, such as the cheery nuance of sunshine pop and harder-edge acid rock.
The Bosstown Sound was the catchphrase of a marketing campaign to promote psychedelic rock and psychedelic pop bands in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 1960s. The concept was conceived by the record producer Alan Lorber as a marketing strategy intended to establish several underground musical artists native to the city on the national charts and compete with the popular San Francisco Sound. Lorber chose Boston for his plan because of the several bands developing in the city, the abundance of music venues, and the proximity of MGM Records, which had signed the core groups.
Chamaeleon Church was a short-lived American psychedelic rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1967. It was founded by singer-songwriter Ted Myers after the disbandment of the Lost. Chamaeleon Church recorded one self-titled album in 1968. Similar to other psychedelic groups native to Boston, the band is remembered for its relation to the Bosstown Sound. In addition, the band had future actor and comedian Chevy Chase as a member.
Ultimate Spinach III is the third and final album by the American psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach, and was released on MGM Records in 1969.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)