This 40-years old record
seems to have passed the test of time: not that it sounds "modern"
today, but it has this 'classic' touch that we see in music made with
honesty, love and joy.
"House of Glass" is the impressive
opening track, full of tension and convincing vocals over a 13 Floor
Elevators style music, "Born In the USA" is an almost straight R'n'B
track, complete with harmonica (but it sounds a little phony and out of
place), "Once Again" and "Sometimes You Wander" are nice soft-pop tunes
(California style), "The Means" is an excellent hallucinogenic flying
into the Beatles territory, "Do You Remember" is not far from Pearls
Before Swine. "I Want To See My Baby" is a much more successful attempt
on the psyche/blues style than "Born in the USA", with a nice fuzz
guitar, reminding "Death Sound Blues" of Country Joe & The
Fish, "Lady Blue" is basically a straight rock song, besides the
psychedelic arrangement. Then we have the organ-based "Passage #17",
the country-pop "Mr.Happy Glee" with nice mandolin, "Guess I'll Let You
Go", a superb love song, where the minimal orchestration gives it inner
depth, and the lysergic instrumental "Agorn" which starts with a drum
storm that leads to a guitar riff, reminding very much "This can't be
today" of Rain Parade.
All songs were penned by
Ralph Parrett (except two of them that were written by the band), but I
must mention the producer Richard Podolor, who did an amazing job here.
Given that this record was released by Warner Brothers, the production
did not buried the originality of the band, in order to make a record
that would sell, but, in fact, brought the best elements in the surface
and out of the many styles that Glass Family were apparently playing at
the time, created an amazing record that owes to all and nobody,
avoiding to sound generic or exploito. It's a pity that Glass
Family released only this LP: if they had continue (especially in the
direction of 'House of Glass' or 'I Guess I'll let You Go'), they could
have created a masterpiece.
Glass Family were Ralph
Parrett gtr, David Capilouto kbds, bs and Gary Green
drms
A1 House Of Glass A2 Born In The
U.S.A. A3 Once Again A4 Sometimes You Wander (Henry's
Tune) A5 The Means A6 Do You Remember B1 I
Want To See My Baby B2 Lady Blue B3 Passage
#17 B4 Mr. Happy Glee B5 Guess I'll Let You
Go B6 Agorn (Elements Of Complex Variables)
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