Continuing on my late 60s psychedelic rock binge from the albums I added to my queue around the time I checked out that Fields album, Ellie Pop is a somewhat obscure psychedelic rock group from Roseville, Michigan that created a singled self-titled LP that seems to be something like psychedelic pop with heavy influence from The Beatles, though there’s not a whole lot of information about the band or album online. It was released by Mainstream Records, much like a few other albums I have listened to in the past week, and who also released albums by groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company. I can’t really find a whole lot of other information on the group, so with that, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Seven North Frederick” has a super syncopated slow psychedelic groove to it at first, but picks up things a little bit at different times as the tempo changes a few times. It’s definitely an interesting song, as it feels like it’s definitely giving you a bit of an introduction for things to come. Oh wow, the bass notes in the piano really give such great flavor to the background of the tune as the things stay easy grooving along. I’m definitely intrigued at this point and looking forward to the rest of the album.
“Winner Loser” has a really nice feel to it, with a certain sort of two step sort of feel to the beat, and a bluesy psychedelic guitar to it that keeps things moving along. The bass line is super smooth and really keeps the song standing up. Those drums are pretty sweet with the way they traveled around the soundscape. This is definitely a nice little groovy 60s rock tune.
“Can’t Be Love” has some immediate Beatles feel to it with the vocal introduction and that Harrison-esque little lick followed by something that reminds me a lot of the forward feeling movement of a John Lennon song. Oh wow, the guitars sort of hang loose while the drums really go in on the tune. Oh wow, this guitar solo is really groovy, and really gets some great flavor into the mix while tying up some portions of the song. Those background vocals have that what I would call late 60s bell-ringing style of singing, and definitely give a lot of tight energy to the piece.
“Remembering (Sunnybrook)” is an interesting change up with the acoustic guitar and the light crashing of the cymbals for the intro, and the bass keeps things grooving along. This is sort of interesting to me in particular, because I know there used to be a golf course/bowling alley just a few miles away from Roseville named Sunnybrook, which closed a couple years ago after about 80 years of being in business, so this song could even be a loose allusion to that. Either way, there’s definitely a fond feeling that the band produces in the song.
“Seems I’ve Changed” has a really sweet raw energy in it, with the electric guitar and the super rapid bass guitar and the strong energy from the drums – I would say this one definitely has a bit of a garage rock vibe, but the vocals are extremely polished in terms of production for a garage rock song, in my opinion. This little guitar solo is pretty sweet too – oh wow, it moved around in the soundscape and definitely has a really cool psychedelia to it.
“Caught In The Rain” reminds me right away of “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles, and they definitely pull off that sound really well with their own twist. They take this song that sounds heavily influenced by The Beatles, while mixing it with their own unique, sort of downtempo psychedelic garage rock sort of vibe. Super groovy little tune. There’s quite a bit of Paul McCartney influence in this one in particular, I think. All around, pretty sweet tune.
Oh wow, “Oh! My Friend” has almost like a strange country-inflected downtempo psychedelic rock song. That bass guitar has such a great tone in this tune. I really dig the subtle little shifts in the soundscape that occur in this song and throughout the album.
“Sometime Ago” has a super tasty guitar intro that reminds of something like a bubblegum garage rock lick from a more modern artist I really dig, The Setting Son. These changes in tempo are pretty sweet. The band definitely does a really good job of manifesting that psychedelic mindset with the layers to the songs and the shifts and the unexpected changes. Oh wow, there was a super tasty note the electric guitar just hit. This downtempo feel at this point in the song is pretty groovy. Oh wow, things pick back up the end just as the song fades out.
“No Thanks For Mr. Mann” has a super interesting feel to it – the vocals are incredibly interesting production quality, as there’s the same line sung slightly differently on each side of the mix, with changing levels of which side is louder than the other. The acoustic guitar sort of just paints a bit of a backdrop to the song, as the bass lifts things up from behind everything, and the drums keep things pushing forward. I really dig the vocals in this one. This tune sounds like some sort of dream pop mixed with modern California indie rock played by a 1960s psychedelic rock band – really awesome.
“Watcha Gonna Do” starts out with just the bass really hooking me into the song, while the drums come in to sort of give it subtle pushes forward. The vocals really fill the song with music as the whole band harmonizes together to give the song some nice melodic parts. Then the electric guitar comes in with a pretty bright tone that sort of turns things around and spinning everything together. Definitely a groovy little tune that harkens back to the way the album started, almost as if the whole things was one long song to some degree. Pretty sweet.
This album is definitely interesting, and is quite short at only 26 minutes in length. If you enjoy psychedelic rock and finding some diamonds in the rough, you might want to consider checking this one out. Definitely has a pretty groovy feel throughout, and I’ll be relistening to some songs in the coming days for sure. If you do decide to give it a listen, I do sincerely hope you enjoyed it at least as much as I did.
-A