The April pick for our Record of the Month Club hits close to home… literally! The Gordian Knot members were all Ole Miss grads in the 1960s before getting together to record this smooth psych rock tripper.
ROTM Club members will be getting a copy of the album pressed on limited, white vinyl lovingly reissued by the excellent Sundazed record label. These just landed in the shop so we’re getting them out ASAP!
More from the label:
This group of Ole Miss grads feature Jim Weatherly (writer of “Midnight Train to Georgia”) and is often likened to the Association for their soft, trippy sound. “Everything about this well-crafted fusion of sunshine pop and gentle psychedelia is geared towards accenting all things melodic” – Grahame Bent (Record Collector) Reissued on LP for the first time!
Produced by Clark Burroughs (who went on to arrange the Association), the stunning one-two punch songs “It’s Gonna Take A Lot” and “We Must Be Doing Something Right” are not only two of the greatest Sunshine Pop songs I’ve heard, but maybe among the best songs I’ve ever heard. The band’s soaring, windswept harmonies are on full display upon beds of float-y harpsichord and Osborn’s prominent bass hooks.
The Lobue-Russell penned highlight “Carraway Stream” ends side one with a gentle folk melody, carried along by soft brushwork on the drums, nice electric piano and more harpsichord and the band’s beautiful vocals. The outro is one of the best moments on the record, as the instruments drop out and only the Knot’s reverb drenched harmonies remain.
“Year of the Sun” is quite clearly the most psychedelic song on the album, featuring a haunting 12 string guitar melody and the album’s most complex and interweaving vocal harmony pattern. The sheer density of the vocals on this track is just amazing. “I Can’t Be Hurt Anymore’ is a sweet little country-pop number, and probably the album’s most stripped down song. The harmonies are absent as Weatherly delivers an impressive solo vocal over some delicately played piano, harmonica and folky guitar picking all smothered in echo.
Russell’s “Broken Down Ole Merry-Go-Round” is the closing track and finds the band sounding surprisingly like Saucerful era Pink Floyd, with a Gilmour-esque electric guitar line dripping with soft tremolo among a swelling farfisa organ. The band sings a grandiose tribute to a crumbling carnival ride, but the stoned and spaced out harmonies suggest this may be more of a metaphorical merry-go-round, if you know what I mean.
– Beatle Bob
