Hapshash And The Coloured Coat - Western Flier 1969

Hapshash & the Coloured Coat's second and final album was a much more conventional and organized affair than the relatively anarchic, free-form (read songless) structure of their debut. Because of that, some listeners might be inclined to dismiss it as a sellout of sorts. Most listeners, however, will find it far easier to bear than its predecessor, even if it does sound more like a collection of tracks by a few different bands rather than a unified work. That doesn't mean, however, that it's a psychedelic album of note. In fact, it's kind of second-rate and boring, handicapped by rambling, repetitive songs in a mild hard rock British psychedelic end-of-the-'60s style, often handicapped by artlessly strained vocals. Much of the record's filled with stormily discordant blends of rock with Cajun, old-time folk, and ragtime music that sound as if they were arranged and recorded on the spot. In better news, "Chicken Run" isn't bad doom-clouded psychedelia (other than those terrible lead vocals), with some really weird haunting female chants in the background. And you should try to get that on a compilation tape instead of laying out full dollar for this cacophonous, messy relic of the psychedelic age. AMG.

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