Album review : MARCH OF THE FLOWER CHILDREN : The American Sounds of 1967 (3 CD set)

Cherry Red [Release date : 24.08.23]

March Of The Flower Children is a fascinating journey through pop (and rock) music in the USA circa 1967… the year of the so called “Summer Of Love.”

3 CDs, 85 tracks, 4 hours of music. Immerse yourself in the whole package and you’ll come out singing ‘Happy Together’ and looking for flowers to wear in your hair.

It was the year that US Pop Music reached escape velocity and left “The Sixties Invasion” in its wake. But it was more than that, it was as much part of an overarching cultural revolution as it was a musical rebirth.

Of course, there were many, many pop bands simply celebrating pop music for what is was. The Monkees, Paul Revere And The Raiders, (the perfect pop of ‘Him Or Me, Who’s It Gonna Be’ is here, one of the band’s 16 US Top Forty hits), The Beau Brummels, The Turtles, The Lovin Spoonful, The Byrds (David Crosby’s underrated gem, ‘Lady Friend’ is here), The Seeds and more. Collectively, they flagged up the beginning of a revolution in popular music. Pop is for adults too.

Talking about revolution, equally, there are bands here too who wanted to have their say on the prevalent political mores of the time. Bands like Buffalo Springfield, The Velvet Underground (the estimable ‘White Light, White Heat’ is here), Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, and so on. Their music signalled radical changes in the music market place, a remaking of a genre to reflect the world in which we lived.

Rock artists did pop too, “Precursors Of Prog” The Grateful Dead, Love, Moby Grape, Vanilla Fudge, The Electric Prunes, Tim Buckley, Tim Rose (his classic, ‘Morning Dew’ is here, cause for celebration), The Blues Magoos, The Young Rascals (the sublime ‘Groovin’ is here, cause for more celebration).

No exaggeration to say these bands also played a huge part in reshaping the future of popular music, most of them stretching their influential musical tentacles across the Atlantic, to the UK and the rest of Europe.

Unarguably, The March… is a significant cross section slice of popular music as it existed in the United States in the late Sixties. But it never stood still. It was constantly moving. And 1967 was only the beginning. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)