Orpheus - Joyful 1969

Orpheus' final MGM album is softer and poppier than the other LPs the group had done for the label, but not that much softer and poppier, as Orpheus were already pretty piffling at the outset. Like their other albums, it's full of lushly orchestrated original material that strives to be grand and important, but is much closer to mushy, sunshine pop than art. The feel-good bounciness of the harmonies and lyrics is incessant. It's one thing to be airy, another to be airheaded, and the group often treads perilously close to the latter trait. In order for pop/rock this light and romantic to work, the melodies have to be damn good; on this album, however, they're not close to being good enough, though the disc might find favor with sunshine pop cultists after something with a little more pretension than is common in the style. All of the songs are included on the Big Beat double-CD compilation The Best of Orpheus. AMG.

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