High Bias refreshed

THE ACTION
Rolled Gold
(Reaction)
GANDALF
Gandalf
(Sundazed)
Psychedelia may never be a chart-topping genre phenomenon, but at least it's popular enough with music fans that obscurities from the original era continue to be unearthed and reissued. Case in point: the Action and Gandalf. The Action was a mid-60s mod R&B quartet signed by Beatles producer George Martin to EMI in 1965. The failure of their singles to chart as well as personnel changes led to the usual sonic evolution, and by 1967 the Action was working in a psychedelic folk-rock idiom that EMI found dissatisfying. After being dropped by the label, the band made a set of demos in this trippier vein before losing lead singer Reggie King and transmuting into Mighty Baby. The demos languished in a vault somewhere for nearly 35 years before their subsequent liberation. Rolled Gold is that set of demos, remastered and issued as an album. The Action hadn't completely abandoned its R&B roots, as the tough "Look At the View" demonstrates, but for the most part the songs rely heavily on flowing melodies, Who-like vocal harmonies and irresistible psych/pop hooks. "I'm a Stranger" (with a then-unusual flute solo), "Something to Say," the pastoral epic "In My Dream" and "Strange Roads" qualify as unheralded classics, and the rest of the tunes aren't far behind. Even "Brain," which guitarist Alan King describes in the liner notes as "more of an idea than a song," holds up, despite being totally improvised. The songs' musical consistency is such that this sounds like a best-of collection; it's hard to believe no label at the time was willing pick the band up. Thanks to modern technology, the demos sound as good as many finished albums, but even if they didn't, this is music well worth rescuing.[buy it]

While the Action captures the sound of psychedelia as it made the transition from R&B and folk to its own distinctive pop sound, New Jersey's Gandalf represents the music in full flower. Like the Action, Gandalf began as an R&B group; under the name Rahgoos, the quartet built up a substantial following in New England. Signed to a subsidiary of Capitol, the band was asked to change its name and conform its sound to its psychedelic interpretation of the Peggy Lee standard "Golden Earring." As the studio in which it recorded was inadequate to the task, the band ended up bringing in its own P.A. system, including the Binson Echorec tape echo unit essential to its sound, to record what would eventually become its sole LP. Gandalf is a dreamy record most definitely of its time. The trippy arrangements of standards like "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Nature Boy," heavy on guitarist Peter Sandos' treated vocals and busy organ and harpsichord, date it within a few bars, though the contrast of laid-back verses and blistering fuzz guitar solos saves the latter song from tedium. "Me About You" and "Tiffany Rings," from the songwriting team of Bonner and Gordon, almost drown in their own sweetness. More successful—i.e. less precious—are the band's treatment of songs by Tim Hardin ("You Upset the Grace of Living," "Never Too Far," a terrific "Hang On To a Dream"). But the band's own originals stand out the most. "Can You Travel in the Dark Alone" is as good a psych/pop tune as anything by Gandalf's contemporaries, while "I Watch the Moon" is a darker ballad that takes advantage of Frank Hubach's amber keyboards and Sandos' thick leads. Both tunes were penned by Sandos; it's a shame the band relied so heavily on outside material when it obviously had a strong writer in its ranks. Gandalf's album isn't as thoroughly satisfying as the Action's, but it too deserves to have been resurrected. Hopefully both these reissues will be successful enough to justify further plundering of the vaults. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of:
The Action: the Kinks, S.F. Sorrow-era Pretty Things, the Byrds
Gandalf: the Left Banke, the Zombies, Love