#Tomorrow #Steve Howe #psychedelic rock #British psychedelia #psychedelic pop rock #1960s
Writing this from a cafe (since PG&E has shut down the power for the weekend), I head back through the decades for one of my favorite eras/genres, the late 60s British psychedelic scene. Tomorrow weren't exactly a huge seller at the time, and are probably best remembered for (a) the killer single "My White Bicycle," a perennial Nuggets-type compilation mainstay, and (b) guitarist Steve Howe, who left afterwards to join Yes. But the album is actually pretty great, a mix of heavier psychedelia and lighter, more twee, very British pop. Again, "Bicycle" is the keeper here, a delirious psychedelic rocker with a killer guitar hook and all manner of studio playfulness. But it's joined by some other winners, among them the silly but amusing "Three Jolly Little Dwarfs," the even lighter but almost Ray Davies-infused "Auntie Mary's Dress Shop," the cool guitar riffs of the more complex "Claramount Lake" and "Real Life Permanent Dream," and the trippy, goofy acid rock of "Revolution" (no, not a Beatles cover). Not to mention a pretty straight and superfluous but still decent version of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (yes, a Beatles cover). The CD version of the album (and the version that streams on Spotify) adds a bunch of bonus tracks, including a few solo tracks from singer Keith West and, most notably, the absolutely bonkers single "10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box," recorded by a couple members of the band performing as The Aquarian Age; it's one of the best (and most underappreciated) examples of psychedelic pop, right up there with Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men." From: https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2019/10/tomorrow-tomorrow-1968.html
