Released in 1967 on Reprise Records, Part One is one of the most admired albums by
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and a key document of Los Angeles psychedelia. The
record blends dreamy pop melodies, garage-rock edges, experimental arrangements and surreal
lyrical ideas into a sound that is both accessible and unsettling.
More focused than their earlier work yet still unpredictable, the album features a distinctive
mix of original material and outside compositions, including songs associated with Frank Zappa,
P.F. Sloan, Baker Knight and Van Dyke Parks. Tracks such as Shifting Sands,
I Won’t Hurt You, 1906 and Transparent Day capture the group’s
strange, fragile and often haunting approach to psychedelic pop.
With its mixture of beauty, eccentricity and West Coast underground atmosphere,
Part One remains a cult favourite and one of the band’s most cohesive statements.
