Even more country

Ok, this week I will try to post some nice dance music too, but it's so hard these days when we just want to sit outside and drink wine and listen to doobie brothers. So today we present to you relatively clean rivers, great band. Check out some info below.



Relatively clean rivers - easy ride

Relatively Clean Rivers - s/t (Pacific Is, 1976)

Recorded in 1975, this is a west coast psych tour de force that combines elements of vintage Grateful Dead with folk psych and BTL rural rock (in fact, an album like this very clearly illustrates the difference between rural rock and country rock, as it's very clearly Americana-influenced but really has no country reference points. That's one reason the term BTL is useful, it's an umbrella that encompasses both). Phil Pearlman is the singer and songwriter, and plays the lion's share of the instruments. In the '60s he had been behind the legendary psych freakout masters Beat of the Earth, but he started this project sometime in the early '70s. A very California record, this is full of lots of wide open spaces, jangly acoustic-guitar folk-rock tapestries, twangy, reverbed, Garcia-like electric leads, reedy vocal harmonies, and extended songs that achieve a stoned, dreamy feel. Go for the bootleg reissue, as you'll have to mortgage your home to buy an original copy of this self-release. I've read that only 500 copies were originally made and Pearlman "distributed" many of those just by discreetly depositing them around college campuses and record stores unannounced.