GLASS FAMILY Electric Band 1968 RARE ORIG killer psych

$

103

I’m not exactly sure who you’d find in a group called the Glass Family.  I’m sure Philip Glass is in there, he’s musical – maybe even Inside Edition’s Nancy Glass.  I bet they had to turn down Sharon Gless, who’s one letter off, but welcomed in Thomas Paine, Judee Sill and Sash from Guns N’ Roses.  But whoever’s in there, it appears the Glass Family stuck together only long enough for this one album, 1968’s Electric Band on the Warner Brothers label, then promptly shattered into a million pieces.  And yet it’s a tremendous record – one of psych rock’s finest – an d even though its songs have been featured on various comps, amazingly nobody has bothered to reissue the entire album yet.  Well, here’s your window of opportunity to own a Glass Family original.

Opener “House of Glass” was plucked for Rhino’s recent Hallucinations comp, and it’s like the Glass Family’s own personal statement of purpose, a wonderfully over-the-top barrage of mindblowing psychedelia that’s just as overblown and enjoyable as the deadly-serious Doors.  Which is a pretty apt comparison actually, since “House of Glass” rides the same oscillating seesaw organ melody that propelled “Not to Touch the Earth.”  It starts with the sound of glass shattering, lest you forget exactly who you’re listening to here, as the singer hisses the opening lines like some mescaline fueled lizard king.  “This house…is made of gla-a-a-s-s-s-s-s!  Come inside, watch it la-a-a-s- s-s-s-st!...Life can be seen, and it’s such a GA-A-A-S-S-S-S!”   It’s all such great hokey fun, you simply have to love it, even if you can see right through it (sorry, another bad glass pun).  All moaning banshees and trippy effects, piling so many layers of sonic excess on top of the already teetering organ line that it has no choice but to completely implode at the end, falling in on itself under a barrage of broken-down instruments, crashing to the studio floor while the singer gets one final word of warning out to those who dare continue on to Track 2:  “Do not fear the unknown!”

Do not eat the brown acid, either.  But pressing on, we come to the next track, “Born in the USA,”  which, don’t worry, sounds nothing like Bruce Springsteen – more like a carbon copy of Captain Beefheart’s “Diddy Wah Diddy” actually, a great bluesy garage punk rave-up.  “Sometimes You Wander (Henry’s Tune)” hits all the right sunshine pop notes, and certainly fans of the Fading Yellow or Soft Sounds for Gentle People compilations should add this one to their next gently fading mix tape.  Somewhere in the middle, you’ll find the catchy “Lady Blue,” which sounds like a possible collaboration between the Doors and the Monkees.  A litt le “Papa Gene’s Roadhouse Blues,” if you will.

Like one end of a pair of psychedelic bookends, the album’s final track is another full-blown deadly serious synapse-melter.  And with a title like “Agorn (Elements of Complex Variables),” I doubt you’re expecting a barnyard hoedown.  Opening with a drum solo – that’s right, opening with a drum solo – this cosmic freakout takes a full minute before the rumbling Roger Waters bass even starts to join in.  Together, the bass and drums lock into an interstellar proto-Hawkwind space boogie, laying down the cosmic funk for another minute and a half before being joined by some funky Deneb V bachelor pad Wurlitzer organ.  By now, we’re hurtling through the space-time continuum with t he help of a chooglin’ Pink Floyd rhythm section caught playing some unholy combination of “Lucifer Sam” and “Interstellar Overdrive,” drinkin’ Tang and eatin’ those funny brownies.  But just before you can say “My God, it’s full of stars,” the song suddenly (and inexplicably) breaks off into this creepy galactic monk chant, followed by the sound, once again, of breaking glass.  Which, I guess, is the Glass Family’s way of bringing the album full circle, while also throwing in another shameless bit of self-promotion.   The Glass Family.  Brought to you by Zig Zag Rolling Papers, and Windex.

It’s one heck of a trip, though, a fine collection of garage pop tunes held together by a pair of faux ubertrippy cosmic acid psych bookends.  This was one of the very first 60’s psych albums I ever bought as a young lad, and, as you can see, it got me very hooked.  It’s everything psychedelic rock should be – a little pompous, very adventurous, and a genuine space flight on headphones.  And if you’re wondering why the band never covered “Paint It, Black,” well, that’s because people in Glass Families shouldn’t do Stones.

 SUPER RARE ORIGINAL 1968 pressing on the gold WB label.  Cover's in VG shape with heavy ringwear (most of these have it for some reason).  Vinyl has light scuffs, plays very solid VG++ with occasional pops, mostly quiet.

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