THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,089) Blonde on Blonde — “Country Life”
This Welsh band’s (see #227, 267) ‘68 B-side is a “wonderful psych-pop song” (https://www.clear-spot.nl/item/506848/blonde_on_blonde_contrasts.html) that “recalls The Moody Blues’ sound”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) The song’s “simpler, appropriately rustic charms” as compared to the classic psych A-side “All Day, All Night” “may have made [it] a more likely chart contender.” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD reissue of Contrasts)
Country roads, take me home To the place I belong Newport, South Wales, mountain mama Take me home, country roads!
As to BoB (named after BoB Dylan’s double LP), Bruce Eder says:
Blonde on Blonde . . . were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set. Garett Johnson played the guitar, sitar, and lute, while Richard Hopkins handled the bass, piano, harpsichord, cornet, celeste, and whistle, and Lea Hicks played the drums. The addition of Ralph Denyer made them into a quartet with vocals; and Simon Lawrence . . . was with them briefly, as well, on 12-string guitar. The group took part in the Middle Earth Club’s Magical Mystery Tour, which brought them an initial splash of press exposure. They were also fortunate enough to open for the Jefferson Airplane on the[ir] British tour. All of this activity led to an approach by Pye Records producer Barry Murray, who got them signed to the label, and through whom they released their debut single “All Day, All Night” b/w “Country Life.” Though decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band’s music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with Johnson’s sitar and lute embellishments and Hopkins’ harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — with Hicks getting into the act on the tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound. Their live performances were frequently divided . . . into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range. The group issued their first album, Contrasts, in 1969 . . . — that record showed more of the early but burgeoning influence of progressive rock, while retaining their early psychedelic coloration. That same year, the band played to the largest single audience of its entire history when they appeared at the first Isle of Wight Festival. They also issued their second single “Castles in the Sky” b/w “Circles'” and LP Rebirth which featured a new lineup — Denyer had exited the band to form Aquila, ceding his spot in Blonde on Blonde to singer-guitarist David Thomas. . . . [T]heir third LP, Reflections on a Life . . . . failed to sell any better than their prior releases . . . and the group broke up in 1972 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blonde-on-blonde-mn0000052978#biography
Eetu Pellonpää adds:
[Blonde on Blonde] was exploring the areas pioneered by 1967 psychedelic acts like PINK FLOYD, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and CREAM, but in a much larger scale of influences . . . having a more wider musical palette than the bands . . . . Their music is a dance between contrasts of free impressionism paired with predefined melodic more carefully constructed elements, varying from streetwise side to high levels of spirituality, from folk tones, classical guitar runs and mantra like instrumental runs, bursting with oriental musical influences, introducing cosmic drones running hypnotically on varying time scales, and all this paired with hard rock tones of heavy psychedelic guitar . . . . Their lyrics are quite basic trippy poems, but also thoughtful, emotional and interesting at their best . . . . There is melancholy in their music, but there is also hope and happiness among it.
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3298
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