In
our current cd age, a lot of "great lost '60s psych" records
have gotten reissued, and a lot of the time, they can't live up to the
hype. But this is definitely one of those long-awaited reissues that
deserves the billing... Clear Light were a long-haired, hippy-fashioned
LA group named after a type of LSD (and a Tibetan religious concept),
playing psych-pop rock kinda in the vein of fellow LA denizens Love, The
Byrds, Iron Butterfly, and The Doors (or SF's Jefferson Airplane). This
cd makes available once again Clear Light's one and only album released
in late 1967, complete with bonus track and liner notes by Ugly Things
editor Mike Stax. Key Clear Light characteristics: awesome fuzz guitars,
the presence of not one but TWO drummers, and the dramatic vocal
delivery of singer (and ex-actor) Cliff DeYoung, at his best on the
band's more theatrical songs, sounding like "Hamlet on acid"
according to Stax. All these elements were used to great effect in Clear
Light's compositions (mostly by guitarist and ex-Army parachutist Bob
Seal), which can get rather dark, heavy, and disturbing while remaining
within the template of California pop psych sixties rock n' roll. Groovy
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums
The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight LP/CD (2000 Tee Pee Records) The
Father, the Son and the Holy Smoke split CD with Acid King (2001 Man's
Ruin Records)
Singles
Split 7" with The Obsessed (both sides are Lynyrd Skynyrd
covers) (2001)
In
our current cd age, a lot of "great lost '60s psych" records
have gotten reissued, and a lot of the time, they can't live up to the
hype. But this is definitely one of those long-awaited reissues that
deserves the billing... Clear Light were a long-haired, hippy-fashioned
LA group named after a type of LSD (and a Tibetan religious concept),
playing psych-pop rock kinda in the vein of fellow LA denizens Love, The
Byrds, Iron Butterfly, and The Doors (or SF's Jefferson Airplane). This
cd makes available once again Clear Light's one and only album released
in late 1967, complete with bonus track and liner notes by Ugly Things
editor Mike Stax. Key Clear Light characteristics: awesome fuzz guitars,
the presence of not one but TWO drummers, and the dramatic vocal
delivery of singer (and ex-actor) Cliff DeYoung, at his best on the
band's more theatrical songs, sounding like "Hamlet on acid"
according to Stax. All these elements were used to great effect in Clear
Light's compositions (mostly by guitarist and ex-Army parachutist Bob
Seal), which can get rather dark, heavy, and disturbing while remaining
within the template of California pop psych sixties rock n' roll. Groovy