Personnel: Merrell Fankhauser, Bill Dodd, Jack Jordan and Larry Meyers
Barcode: 645270028127
Originally released in 1968, Things! was the sole album by Merrell Fankhauser & H.M.S. Bounty and an outstanding example of late-1960s Californian psychedelic folk rock. The group was formed after the end of Fankhauser’s earlier project, Fapardokly, and retained the melodic songwriting and vocal harmonies of that band while developing a heavier and more exploratory sound.
The album combines ringing folk-rock guitars, thick fuzz, organ, sitar, tabla and softly psychedelic vocal arrangements. Songs such as “Things (Goin’ Round In My Mind),” “Girl (I’m Waiting For You)” and “The Big Gray Sky” possess a bright West Coast melodic quality, while “Drivin’ Sideways (On A One Way Street)” introduces a tougher garage-rock edge.
Eastern musical colours are especially prominent on “A Visit With Ashiya,” where sitar and percussion create one of the album’s most atmospheric moments. Elsewhere, “Your Painted Lives,” “Rich Man’s Fable” and “Ice Cube Island” balance concise pop structures with unusual lyrics and studio effects. The result lies between folk rock, garage psychedelia and the more adventurous music Fankhauser would later create with Mu.
This Gear Fab edition presents the complete original album together with “I’m Flying Home,” an additional recording from the group’s period with Shamley Records.
