A deliciously obscure but favorite band from the late 60’s, based out of Florida, called Pearls Before Swine…

People of the same generation as myself who loved music know certain things about the aural zeitgeist of the years 1965-1970 or so. Things which seem absolutely unhinged and scintillatingly biased to younger folk. The first thing: this was without question the best, most varied, and most creative explosion of musical diversity and unabashedly inventive prowess and beauty in the history of popular Western music. The sheer range of styles and genres which came into being in that brief heyday has no equal, and those coming of age during this era knew instinctively that this explosion was not just limited to the artistic or entertainment spheres. Instead it was part and parcel of a kind of social revolution which could potentially be of fantastic dimensions. Something like Renaissance II. Plus, all of this marvellous diversity came to youthful ears who were ravenously hungry for it, first on these peculiar little handheld devices called transistor radios (which you could conceal under your blankets and pillows while you were supposed to be sleeping) and later, a new invention called tabletop stereo systems which often included a radio tuner for reaching the wide array of rock stations sprouting in every minor city along with a turntable and speakers for playing 33 RPM albums you purchased. Beyond this there were things called record clubs to drive parents crazy. To get teens to join, companies like Columbia or RCA would offer introductory sales leader schemes like: Choose Any 10 Albums Now from our catalogs for $3.99 and then agree to buy at least four more at our regular low prices over the course of a year. Quit any time after that! This was one method to rapidly build up record collections. But another more enjoyable, slow-paced and lingering method existed too. Department stores.

Usually one could find three or four aisles in your neighborhood generic department store dedicated entirely to new, recent, and super hit albums. You could thumb through them in racks. To understand the appeal of this activity you have to understand that the amount of artistic expression poured into the album covers, front as well as back, often equaled the effort put into the music. The visual elements functioned as a strong clue into the quality and flavor of tke musical contents, all wrapped up in an artistic language which decoded the zeitgeist. You used the parts you could see, and read, and study, to imagine the creative mindset of the band personnel, thereby arriving at a judgement as to whether to invest in the album — without having ever heard it before! Everything mattered as an indicator, from the chosen song titles to the images and whatever verbal description might be available. And the thing was — the band members well knew this! Unless an album was a popular hit receiving airplay, it was likely that the purchase choice depended upon the artwork and design. Eventually, of course, for the good stuff, word of mouth prevailed. But there was a singular joy in perusing some obscure new intriguing title and then voting for it with your wallet and becoming positively enraptured by the poetics and musical composition of the secret contents once you got home to your record player. This exactly describes how I first came to know the Pearls Before Swine album Balaklava as a young teen. It was the excerpt of the otherworldly mystical Heironymus Bosch (1450-1516) painting on the cover which caught me. But God, Tom Rapp’s quivering voice on the opening piece, Translucent Carriages, was captivating. His lyrics as well.

Any sort of anti-war theme within a popular song in 1968 was instantly valued. This was the time of the Vietnam War after all, and no one wanted to go. Nobody believed in it. Everyone with an ounce of sense knew that the so-called domino theory of SE Asian countries falling into Communism unless Americans interceded militarily was a completely bogus invention to justify increased financial global power. (1968, spring, was also the time of the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy — who had just won the California primary and was thus enroute to the Democratic presidential nomination — and Martin Luther King — who was making progress in radically revamping American racial attitudes. Young people were not inclined to just enthusiastically fall in line with mainstream opinion and convention.) But this was an exceptionally beautiful anti-war song. The technique of the singer to counterplay crooned verses over whispered and lisping breathy recitation of entirely different lines was delicious! So was the clarity and simplicity of the jangling non-electric guitar chords. It always felt to me like the lead singer had just learned to play his guitar six months ago and now could not stop himself from explosively expressing his ideas with whatever tools and techniques he could come up with. The reason musical inventiveness was so rampant then was precisely because big time money producers were still behind the curve as far as controlling the sounds and pigeon-holing everything into market labelled niches. The industry could not catch up with the creatives yet. There was just too much sudden newness.

The second tune, from the same album, is Images of April. Quite different, a love song. The video includes the simple but tasteful lyrics. I love how the tune builds in volume and intensity and complexity, adding layers of springtime wildlife, flute, and echo-chambered vocals. A friend of mine taught me how to play the bass line (appropriately simple — just two notes really) for this song and we used to have a go at it in his basement.

I remember // Days inside your mind
The brave new mirror // I would find
(All is gone…)

You are sunlight // In another dawn
A voice inside // Another song
(All is gone…)

The final choice I’ve included, Another Time, is from an album created one year earlier by this band, although they were already obsessed with Bosch paintings, as you can see. The singer’s voice is amazingly clear and expressive and his poetry blends simplicity with sophistication in terms of images. A mysterious theme around consecutive episodes in the involuntary quest for what lies obscured to us. This album is even more difficult to find as the band was then practically unknown. Beautiful unique stuff in my view.

_______RS

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