Alan Lorber Orchestra - The Lotus Palace 1967

A versatile and commercially successful composer, arranger, and producer, Alan Lorber has had a hand in thousands of recordings, ranging from pop (Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," Mike Clifford's "Close to Cathy") to R&B (Chuck Jackson's "I Wake Up Crying," Jackie Wilson's "Baby Workout") to psychedelic rock (Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus). He was busiest throughout the 1960s and wasn't merely a hired hand. In 1964, for instance, he put together the Mugwumps, a group notable for having featured future members of the Mamas & the Papas and the Lovin' Spoonful. (Lorber produced the latter's first Top Ten single, "Do You Believe in Magic.") During the late '60s, he established and developed the Boston (or Bosstown) Sound, a marketing concept that morphed into a full-blown rock scene. He has also released many of his own recordings, beginning with 1967's The Lotus Palace -- an orchestral pyschedelic album, consisting mostly of pop covers, that incorporated Indian music -- and continuing through the early 2000s, with a prolific run of releases credited to Alan Lorber 21st Century Orchestra. In his breathtakingly overblown liner notes, Alan Lorber describes this album as "one of the earliest examples of classical Indian music/jazz fusion." He also mentions that the concept grew out of a 30-second commercial he created for Chemical Bank, which tells you all you need to know about the authenticity of the end result. It's a cheesy relic of the psychedelic age, a few originals sitting side by side with faux Indian restaurant versions of contemporary rock songs by the Beatles, Tim Hardin, and the Blues Project, as well as covers of "Up, Up and Away" and "The Look of Love." With the recent explosion of interest in sordid vintage easy listening experiments, this may finally find its audience, but it would be erroneous to pretend that it was the product of any great artistic inspiration. The Lotus Palace was reissued on CD -- with bonus cuts, of course -- in 1997. AMG.

listen here