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A temendous amount of classic UK psych was recorded in the 1967, as the genre exploded all over both the mainstream charts and the underground scene in England. There was also, quite frankly, a lot of crap UK psych from the same period, and for every work of genius like "A Day In The Life" or "Astronomy Domine" there was also an instantly dated dud like "Your Mother Should Know" or "The Gnome". Unfortunately, Newcastle group Skip Bifferty fall firmly into that latter category, with a self-titled album that plays like a catalog of all the foolish excesses and bad ideas to come out of the era. There's the dippy excursion into Eastern mysticism ("Guru"), the fey fairytale-psych number ("Gas Board Under Dog" and "Orange Lace") and an overall theatrical/music hall element that rubs me the wrong way. In fact, given its pomposity, suite-like song structures and the general lack of tastefulness, there's a rather strong argument to be made here that this is one of the earliest prog-rock albums. The original 14 song album is augmented by five songs from the band's single and four previously unreleased demos. However, in this case, less would have been more.
DAVID MANSDORF
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