Search - Sagittarius :: Present Tense

Pleasant Marshmellow Pop

Brian J. Greene | Durham, NC | 03/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Curt Boettcher is one of those guys whose name is always popping up in relation to cool, obscure 60s psych pop bands. He worked a lot with producer/arranger Gary Usher, was a member of The Millennium, whose album, Begin, is one of the great unacknowledged 60s records. And Boettcher was part of Sagittarius, a band that also featured a young Glen Campbell. Sag made just this one album, and it is just about perfect. Some kind of cross between Donovan, psychedelic Beach Boys, and bubblegum, the songs are pleasantly light and just psychedelic enough. Lilting melodies will take your mind to another place. "My World Fell Down," the best song of album, has already achieved cult status by being handpicked for the Nuggets collection. And there are three or four other tracks here which are just about as good as that one."

Steer clear of the Rev-Ola version / Get the Sundazed versio

Blind man Wayne | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA United States | 02/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I wish to caution those of you considering the purchase of this wonderful album. I highly recommend the CD version released in 1997 by the label `Sundazed', as opposed to the recent 2009 version released by Rev-Ola. The reason is that the sound engineers who remastered the Rev-Ola release, chose to compress the audio to make it sound louder. In doing so however, they squeezed much of the audio dynamics out so that quiet passages sound nearly as loud as the loud ones. This practice of compressing audio to make it sound louder is very common in the recording industry today and is ruining music. The Rev-Ola release is a victim of today's "loudness wars". The Sundazed version, on the other hand, features the dynamics fully intact and it sounds wonderful! The sundazed version includes the same bonus material as the newly released Rev-Ola version.



The album was originally issued in 1968, and I would describe it as lighthearted psych-pop. It has that wonderful `Summer Of Love' sound and is very harmonious. At times it reminds me of the Moody Blues and The Association, among others. The melodies are very catchy and memorable. The song most will remember is `My World Fell Down', which was a hit in 1967. What makes this CD even more pleasurable is the inclusion of demo, unreleased, and single versions. Speaking of which, the single versions of `My World Fell Down' and `Hotel Indiscreet' are radically different from the LP versions, and I think they are far more superior and trippy! I personally find this album very fun and relaxing. It is packaged nicely with liner notes and photos.





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