"...those good things, baby..."
Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 04/16/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"THE SPIRIT OF '67 is one of those albums that I cannot possibly write about with any sense of dispassion, for this 1966 release is the record that tore me away from the traditional folk, pop, Broadway and classical music I loved in my childhood and hurtled me right into the mainstream of 1960s music. Like a tree, my interests branched out from there.
I revisited the Beatles (who at the time I thought of as goofy Yellow Submariners) after hearing the classically-oriented "Undecided Man" and recognizing its string quartet antecedence within "Eleanor Rigby." I gave the Yardbirds, the Stones and Dave Clark Five further consideration because of "Good Thing," a tune that -I- considered the 'B' of "Undecided Man."
And my tree of discovery continued to branch from there. The now more acceptable (to my ears) folk rock of Simon and Garfunkel led backwards to Dylan and the Byrds, but then forward with Buffalo Springfield. By 1968, I was into the Vanilla Fudge's RENAISSANCE. And then came Led Zeppelin. There was no turning back for me, and no regrets.
With the retrospect of decades I've lately been revisiting my pre-rock listening roots, but there's simply no denying that the roots of another tree planted with the Raiders' "Spirit of '67" are forever firmly entwined among those older musical anchors.
Here's the first part of "Undecided Man," a song that opened so many doors of exploration for this reviewer.
I've been thinking 22 years all about it
Closer I get to the truth the more I doubt it
Don't step out of your rut my friend
You'll mess the master plan
And you'll end up like I am
I am an undecided man
Look at them, look at you, look at me!"