jungle marmalade

• Sound: Digitally remastered
• Packaging: Includes detailed background notes and rare images

Jungle Marmalade is the second and final studio album by Ohio psychedelic group The Lemon Pipers. Originally released by Buddah Records in 1968, it reveals a considerably broader and more adventurous band than the lightweight pop image created by the enormous success of “Green Tambourine.”

The group featured Ivan Browne on vocals and rhythm guitar, Bill Bartlett on lead guitar, R.G. Nave on organ and keyboards, Steve Walmsley on bass and Bill Albaugh on drums. Their performances combine melodic pop songwriting with garage-rock energy, organ-led psychedelia, distorted guitar and several extended instrumental passages.

“Jelly Jungle” continues the colourful psychedelic-pop style associated with the band's hit singles, but much of the album moves in a heavier and more exploratory direction. Their interpretation of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's “I Was Not Born to Follow” has a reflective folk-rock character, while “Everything Is You” and “Catch Me Falling” balance strong melodies with richly textured arrangements.

“Hard Core” introduces a tougher garage-rock edge, driven by fuzz guitar, organ and a compact rhythm section. “Love Beads and Meditation” captures the playful side of late-sixties psychedelia, while “I Need Someone (The Painter)” moves between melodic vocal passages and more dramatic instrumental sections.

“Lonely Atmosphere” and “Wine and Violet” demonstrate the group's softer and more introspective side. The latter was also released as a single, combining atmospheric keyboards with one of the album's most distinctive melodies.

The closing “Dead End Street / Half Light” stretches to almost twelve minutes and provides the clearest evidence of The Lemon Pipers' underground-rock ambitions. Moving through heavy guitar passages, shifting rhythms, organ improvisation and quieter psychedelic sections, it stands in sharp contrast to the concise bubblegum-pop material for which the band is most widely remembered.

This Aurora edition presents the complete ten-track album on CD with digitally remastered sound, detailed background notes and rare archival images.

Track listing:

1. Jelly Jungle – 2:21
2. I Was Not Born to Follow – 2:47
3. Everything Is You – 2:47
4. Catch Me Falling – 2:46
5. Hard Core – 2:56
6. Love Beads and Meditation – 2:52
7. I Need Someone (The Painter) – 2:45
8. Lonely Atmosphere – 2:59
9. Wine and Violet – 3:08
10. Dead End Street / Half Light – 11:52