THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
980) Chris Britton — “How Do You Say Goodbye”
Troggs’ guitarist Chris Britton released a little known but stunning solo album, As I Am (see #15). “Goodbye” is gorgeous, longing, pop psych gem, languorous in a good way.
Vinyl Kiosk tells us that:
Recording a solo album . . . allowed . . . Britton to take a greater artistic freedom, though [it] didn’t veer too far from The Troggs’ standard blend of poppy psychedelia and garage rock, constructed with a particular English bent. Yet, with Britton composing all of the songs except one (his version of Larry Weiss’ ‘Evil Woman’), the material is surprisingly varied, [from] . . . rocking grooves with
https://stores.vinylkiosk.com/chris-britton-as-i-am-69-uk-psych-new-lp/
bright brass, Latinesque percussion and a bit of psychedelic phasing [to] “a slinky blues” [to] pure dreamy psych.”
Vernon Joynson adds: “[S]ome popsike fans swear by [the album] while others dismiss it as overblown pap. As usual, the truth lies somewhere between. . . . [O]verall this is a varied and unfairly neglected piece of the psych-pop jigsaw.” (The Tapestry of Delights Revisited). I swear by it and swear at those who don’t!
Richie Unterberger is Richie Unterberger:
As guitarist for the Troggs, Chris Britton made important contributions to the raw British Invaders’ sound with his crunchy, wiry style. Though Reg Presley was the Troggs’ principal lead singer and songwriter, Britton also took occasional lead vocals and wrote a bit of material on their records, the odd primitive buzzing psychedelia of “Maybe the Madman” and the sultry midtempo rocker “Say Darlin'” (both used on 1968 B-sides) being the highlights in that respect. . . . Though [As I Am] betrayed his modest gifts/limitations as a singer/songwriter, it was an agreeable, varied batch of period British psychedelic pop songs, sung by Britton in his idiosyncratic, diffidently cool and amused style.
Chris Britton’s rare solo album . . . . [is] fairly pleasant psychedelic-tinged late-’60s British pop/rock, delivered with understated, almost laconically sly vocals. Plenty of the period trimmings of British psych-pop . . . can be heard: chirpy Baroque-tinged string arrangements, harpsichord, hints of Eastern exotica, buoyant romantic lyrics, melodic acoustic folky guitar, the odd vaudevillian flavor, Swinging London brass, and the like.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-britton-mn0000105432
https://www.allmusic.com/album/as-i-am-mw0000698634
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