Harbingers of Doom and Gloom with Chirpy Melodies
Label: RCA Victor
Year of Release: 1968
Sweeping generalisations are often a bad idea - few things are likely to aggravate people more on social media, for one thing - but nonetheless, if you wanted to highlight the key differences between UK and US hippy pop in the late sixties, chief among them would probably be the mood and tone. If US performers were often intense young men and ladies who were either desperate to prove they were poets like Bob Dylan or wanted us to know that the way we lived our lives was simply Not Good, a lot of UK acts tended to be experimental, childlike and giddy, and more obsessed with improvements in recording studio technology than the Vietnam War. Yes, it's a generalisation and there are exceptions on either side of the pond, but still...
Aerial Landscape produced this rather strange single in 1968 which somehow crossed the streams. The lyrics appear to be pointing towards a coming storm of no specified kind ("The sands of time are shifting/ and the lights are going out!" they begin, before adding "As the Grim Reaper is sleeping/ in comes Satan with his rake") while the melody behind them is merry and triumphant. It's not a complete mismatch, of course. Aerial Landscape, bless their souls, appear to be optimistic enough to believe that their underground movement will mean that the greedheads of the world will shortly been shown the door. We're still waiting, chaps.
The song is blessed with some beautiful arrangements which, while chirpy, keep things moving along and enhance a fairly simple (if occasionally lyrically oblique) protest song into something approaching pop. It's the kind of song whose style wouldn't last beyond the sixties and while it feels timelocked in a particular era as a result, it's still a strong listen.
The identity of Aerial Landscape is less easy to solve. They had two singles out in 1968 - this one, released in January, and the April follow up "Both Sides Now", which was a cover of Joni Mitchell's song. Brief but favourable reviews followed in the US music press for both, but little other coverage, and that really seems to be that. I can't find any trace of who their members were, where they came from or what they did next, though Discogs seems to suggest that Dave Qualey was their guitarist, who was previously the member of the equally obscure John Rosasco Quartet.
Once again, if anyone has any further information, please let me know.
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4 comments:
Thank you David !!
Greetings Albert
Just ran across this review and wanted to let you know that I think the critique is bang on. — B. Leiren, lyricist
Thanks so much for dropping by to leave a comment!
You wouldn't happen to remember the band's line-up or have any further information on them, would you?
Sad. i have no idea who these folks were, wish i did. came across some of my old airchecks from KRLA, and put them in a folder on my phone. some of the checks start at the end of a song, and the DJ was talking so fast. for Years i thought this group was called Propostion 13 and the song was Hairy Landscape. I think it's the other way around but still am a little unsure. The last few moments of the song are blaring because of the radio aspect of the sound and the oldness of the aircheck, but the few notes i heard were always intriguing, its just the last few beats then the guy super fast says "Hairy Landscape, on the Sunday Dayton show from 1110 (KRLA los angeles) That's Propsition 13 now 3 to one, KRLA Big Time- The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Lewis and Clark Expedition, many other stars yet to be announced are scheduled to be performing at The Cheetah (Santa Monica Teen club back then) Then the guy starts a Bee Gees song and proceeds to go ahead and give away -On the Air- what flight those guys are coming in that day on. Wild times. innocent times too, i guess
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