Search - New Tweedy Bros :: New Tweedy Brothers (Mlps)

New Tweedy Bros classic psychedelic album from 1968

Danny A. Vogel | Chicago, IL, USA | 02/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reissue of the lone album this SF-based psych band, originally issued in 1966. This is a legit reissue, with three bonus tracks (now packaged in regular jewel case). "This album became to most sought after Psych album and so many collectors love it. It was recorded in 1968. New Tweedy where based in San Francisco and played several times at the Fillmore with bands such as Grateful Dead, Them, Beach Boys and 13th Floor Elevators. Because of a very bad manangement this album never had an official release and came only out as a very limited pressing way back than. Every track is a winner." "Even better is the much-rumored but long-lost music inside, which manages to hit all the worthwhile points of early-SF songage in a way that often betters their more-known contemps. Starting from a sorta jugband/Byrds base (surprise), they head straight out from there: 'What's wrong With That' kicks up a kazoo-led jug-blues wail that leaves even the Charlatans just sitting there; 'Wheels of Fortune' deals in a mystic-folk code so obscure that it achieves some weird protest anthem status, at least until somebody flips a switch and the cosmos stops by for a visit; 'I Can See It' is the sorta driving folk-pounding that Moby Grape or the Springfield woulda killed for, with a great spaced/jazzy drop at the end.; and so on, and so on.... Every cut kills , the sound is nicely lo-fi, and this one pushes all the right buttons with a naïvely blasted optimism that's really hard to put into words but that will absolutely slay anyone whose head is into this stuff." -- Kevin Moist"

Enjoyable, but still a bit overrated

G. Putman | Las Vegas, NV United States | 01/08/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the rarest psych albums to ever come from the bay area in the 60's. The original LP easily fetches a four figure sum. Influences are obvious: Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Charlatans, ect. The first couple of songs are really nice Byrds-like pop psych. Then there are a couple of generic jugband, and hard blues rock style songs. "Wheels Of Fortune" is cool spaced-out psych sounding like some acid Appalachian folk song. "I See Your Looking Fine" is a good, more tripped-out Lovin' Spoonful style jug band song. "What's Wrong With That" has a more straight-ahead jug band. "Someone Just Passed By" is pure folk, with just an acoustic guitar and voice. "Her Darkness In December" is an extended, hypnotic Middle Eastern influenced psych song with good fuzz guitar and vocal harmonies. "Lazy Livin'" is nice folk with good vocal harmonies and autoharp. All in all, it's all pretty enjoyable stuff played by a talented band. The problem here though, is that, to be honest with you, I also think it's all pretty faceless (with the exception of maybe "Wheels Of Fortune"). I mean, the material just seems kinda cliche' and formulaic (for the time it was recorded) to me. The album is also too diverse, and just does not flow very well. Get this if your a 60's underground psych completest, but don't expect anything near the level of artistic validity that their obvious influences had."