This is another album I added to my queue the other night while researching some psychedelic folk bands. Pearls Before Swine was a psychedelic folk group formed in 1965 by Tom Rapp in an area that is now part of Melbourne, Florida, with the group’s final performances coming around 1974. This particular album is the group’s debut album, and was generally well received, becoming ESP-Disk label’s best selling release, selling somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 copies. I’m pretty interested to see what’s in store in the album, so with that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Another Time” starts out with some really delicate acoustic guitar and a massive thud of a deep and slow bass line followed shortly behind. Oh wow, this is super sweet. The gentle sparse chimes/bells in the background adds a really pleasant sound that seems to gently invite you to listen closer. Oh wow, Rapp’s voice is super interesting with his soft, introspective approach reminiscent of Donovan, combined with his soft lisp in some words. Really sweet tune, and I’m excited for the rest of the tune.
Oh wow, “Playmate” has a super intriguing sound as it seems to meet halfway between the whimsical swirling psychedelic organ churning sounds of 1967 psychedelic rock and some really pleasant and earthy folk music with the plucky banjo and the bright strumming of the acoustic guitar. Wow, great track.
Oh wow, “Ballad To an Amber Lady” switches back to a really folksy feel with some pleasant acoustic guitar lines that seem to vary slightly with each repetition. Oh wow, this is a super pleasant tune. The background vocals that join in with the main vocals to create a proverbial flowing river of sound that the soundscape gradually moves along with. Oh wow, I really dig the chimes, which almost ring out like the northern star in the night sky as you follow the tune along. Oh wow, there’s some really interesting stuff happening in the background with what nearly sounds to be the discordant playing of a harp, producing a small amount of chaos that the main melody of the tune nearly glides through. Oh wow, the vocal mix is super sweet, with the background vocals seemingly trail the vocals and produce a nearly haunting echo at times. Super sweet tune.
Oh wow, “(Oh Dear) Miss Morse” starts out super pleasantly with some delta bluesish folksy banjo plucking, which is soon joined by some bright strumming of a pleasant acoustic guitar. According to the Wikipedia page for the album, Rapp is spelling out “F-U-C-K” in morse code, accompanied by some super pleasant instrumentation. Super sweet track.
Oh wow, “Drop Out!” has a ton of flavor with a really groovy folk rock sounding tune between the gentle swishes of the clean strums of the electric guitar, with a super pleasant back beat from the drums, a really sweet bass line that grooves the tune along nicely, and some really interesting organs that swirl around a bit in the background. There’s almost a bit of a garage rock feel to the soundscape during the chorus, especially with the raw sort of sound from the rest all of the electric instrumentation in the composition. Oh wow, there’s a really pleasant vocal performance from Rapp in this tund, which almost seems to evoke a Sinatra-esque sound such that Rapp is singing directly to you. Great track.
Oh wow, “Morning Song” starts out with a really bright electric organ on top of what sounds to a be a traditional folk marching sound between the steady drums and pleasantly repetitive plucking of the banjo. Rapp seems to be a conductor of sorts, as his voice seems to be guiding the direction of the organs and folksy guitar underneath. Oh wow, a flute or something similar has entered the soundscape, nearly beckoning you through some sort of English meadow or something. It’s almost like John Fahey meets Donovan or something along those lines. Super sweet tune.
Oh wow, “Regions of May” has a really pleasant flow at the beginning, especially coming off of the heels of the previous track. There’s a really pleasant river-like flowing of the music in this tune, and throughout much of the album so far as well. The humming of Rapp lines up super pleasantly with what I think might be the English horn. This tune sounds like a super pleasant soundtrack for a walk through a forest or some natural land. Great track.
Holy smokes, “Uncle John” has a super great groove that really leans more into the psychedelic rock aspects of the album, with the organs swirling about, the quick swishy strumming of the electric guitar, the chugging groove in the syncopated drums, and the super smooth bass line that seems to glide through and bop along the soundscape. Holy smokes, the feeling from the vocal performance from Rapp is immense as he basically screams during different points in the chorus. Great tune.
“I Shall Not Care” starts out with a really pleasant folksy tune at the beginning, but switches up effortlessly to a really groovy psychedelic rock sound a bit into the song. I really dig the drums in this one, which take on a massive presence in the soundscape with the flavorful bass drum. Oh wow, it almost sounds like a tabla is serving as the percussion section now behind a super interesting raga-like part with some scratchy orchestral strings, a whistling synth that seems to evoke a bit of space-like sound, with Rapp giving an interesting droning vocal performance that gives the tune more of that raga sound. Oh wow, the tune hits that psychedelic rock chorus again right before switching back to the folksy melody from the beginning of the tune.
Holy smokes, “The Surrealist Waltz” has that unmistakeable waltz beat from the drums, alongside some psychedelic organs playing a descending melody that brings a ton of flavor to the soundscape as the tune slowly walks you along to the beat of the drums. The swishing strumming of the electric guitar brings a really sweet raw sound to the soundscape, reminiscent of some garage rock from around the same period. Wow this song is super tasty as it winds to a close and fades out. Great tune and a great way to wind together the album.
Wow, there’s a ton of great flavors throughout the album from a mixture of genres like different subgenres of folk, psychedelic rock, garage rock, and even some raga as well. It was almost like Donovan meets John Fahey meets psychedelic garage rock, and makes for a super interesting listening experience. If you dig psychedelic rock and folk rock, you might want to check out this album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, I sincerely do hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A