This is 12 tracks of blissed out guitar pop, with the lead single ‘Blissful Serenity’ just the start – unashamedly psychedelic revivalists, the music harks back to The Beatles, early Floyd and some of the Nuggets bands. The production and levels are perfect, the vocals resonant and the instrumentation really quite amazing…
This is album no. 4 for the Camels and they know what they are doing… this is a very accomplished album, staying close to their ’60s influences and blending in some very twangy guitar licks and solos (see ‘Storyteller’).
‘The Wedding’ includes some nice organ riffs, in this doomed story… And the riffs and solos come thick and fast, with some great vocal harmonies recalling Mamas and Pappas and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Pretty much every track here has something to offer, and while ’60s influenced this is not a ripoff band; all the tracks are original, eccentric even… and full of energy, for example ‘Don’t Know Where To Begin’, which blasts out, then has an introspective middle section… and then a huge guitar wigout.
Closing track ‘Statue on the Hill’ channels Bruce Springsteen vs Neil Young – in a Scottish vibe – and it works – these guys have a lot to say, and they say it with some thundering music.