This album has been on my queue for a while now, and I’m excited to give it a listen. Although I don’t really know much about The New Colony Six without first looking them up online, I do know I added them while I was listening to a garage rock album I was listening to recently when it appeared under my suggestions on Apple Music. The group was a Chicago based garage rock band that formed in 1965, and survived nearly a decade with alternating band members before disbanding in 1974. The group charted a few songs during their career, including one from this album that reached 61 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. With that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Love You So Much” starts out with a really pleasant jangling garage pop rock guitar sound out of the right side. There’s a really soft, delicate approach to the vocals that seem to envelope you in a nice sound while the guitar, bass, and drums play something that sounds like it caresses you as you continue to listen to the tune. The guitar out of the left side has a nearly shimmering effect as it blends together with the background vocals. Very nice intro to the album.
Holy smokes, “Let Me Love You” has a super distorted sound from the electric guitar, which contrasts really nicely with the acoustic that comes on and seems to gently play around the soundscape. Oh wow, the energy in this one is infectious. Holy smokes, this one really changes up a lot at about the middle of the tune, and takes a mellow, nearly self-assuring approach to the sound, until things get rocking at full speed again for the end of the tune. Really cool song.
“Hello Lonely” has a very mellow, nearly melancholic feel to the song, while sort of climbing upwards to an optimistic sound in general. I really dig the soft interplay between the two guitars, while the bass seems to pull the tune down the line while the drums chug behind them, serving as a nice platform for this sweet tune. Really nice tune.
“Warm Baby” has a really groovy sound to it right away, with some Chicago blues influence while nearly blending with the sounds of California pop rock – I’m really digging it. The drums and bass combination in this tune is really sweet; the drums feel like they’re chugging the song down the tracks while the bass bops a line up and down that the guitars play off. Oh wow, the electric guitar solo is absolutely awesome, and really does feel like a 60s California-esque interpretation of a Chicago blues rock tune. The background vocals really melted everything together really well in this one. Great little tune.
“My Dreams Depend On You” has some great energy right at the start. Oh wow, the background vocals really play off the rhythm section really at bring an almost other-worldly approach to this one, seemingly reverberating from another dimension into this song as they echo into a musical void contained in the song – really awesome.
“Elf Song (Ballad of the Wingbat Marmaduke)” has a really interesting feel in this one – there’s almost a psychedelic element to this one with the strange storytelling combined with the minimalist rhythm section, the organs, and the gentle sounding playing from the electric guitar. I’m really digging this tune. There’s almost a tangible strangeness to this one – really awesome tune.
Oh wow, “I’m Here Now” feels like it resolves a bunch of tension that I didn’t even realize built up in the previous tune. There’s such a soft approach with the acoustic, airy sound in this one between the acoustic guitar and the gentle bass accompanied by the spacious drums. There’s a really interesting part being played by a harpsichord that seems to be doing the main melodic work, bringing an almost baroque feeling to the composition as a whole. Great tune.
Oh wow, “I’m Just Waitin’ (Anticipatin’ For Her To Show Up)” starts out right away with some really nice bluesy horns to introduce the track. I really dig that fast-paced bopping bass line alongside that steady rockin’ drum beat. The part played by the horns almost gives this a tune a swinging 1920s sort of bluesy jazz feel. Great tune.
Oh wow, “You’re Gonna Be Mine” starts out really nicely with some psychedelic elements of clapping and organs giving a foundation for the track to build upon. The guitars play a really reliable part that really rings nicely. Oh wow, there’s almost a bit of a vocal solo for a moment. The tune absolutely keeps going on all cylinders throughout the song. I really dig the clapping on the offbeat of the drum rolls. Super groovy track.
“Woman” has some really great flavor right away with some psychedelic blues sound in this one with the combination of the electric organ and the harmonica, all while the bass and drums keep a steady feel on opposite sides of the soundscape from one another. Oh wow, I’m really getting lost in this tune and grooving to it a lot. The interplay between the harmonica and electric organ is absolutely delicious. Great tune.
“Power of Love” has a really interesting sound at the beginning with some tremelo effect to the guitar on this one. This album has gotten gradually more psychedelic as it continued. There’s definitely a warmth emanating from the music while the music retains a strangeness to it in the main melodic line, almost alternating between minor and major lines. I really dig the percussion work in this piece, taking a minimalist though sturdy approach was quite nice. Oh wow, the end of the tune sounds like it resolved a fair deal of tension built up in the tune.
“Accept My Ring” has a really nice feel to it. The electric guitar almost has some twanginess to it at times as it seemingly whirls around a certain line at the beginning of each verse. The bass has a very nice clean, bright tone that really gives a hopeful, warm feel to the track. Really nice tune.
“Mister You’re a Better Man Than I” is really intriguing right away; there’s almost a darkness to it with the combination of distortion on the electric guitars and what sounds to be an envelope filter on the bass guitar. Wow, this tune is really sweet. There’s some sort of effect on possibly some keyboards or synths that make it almost sound like the song is bubbling upwards from the depths of the oceans, especially when used in conjunction with the envelope filter on the bass and the very driven heavy, crunchy distortion on the lead guitar. The rhythm guitar plays a reliable progression that seems to be what the whole tune is standing on, even the drums. The drums really go in on this one too for some really epic jams. Oh wow, the jam the band just played was pretty awesome. I think this was originally the last song on the album, but other releases including the next couple of tracks as bonus ones. Oh wow, the band gets pretty far out in this one between the seemingly orchestrated chaos. Holy smokes, I really dig what they just did with the vocals – seemingly speeding up and looping over a simple recorded line a few times. Wow, this one is really groovy, and definitely a great tune to wrap up the album. I’m honestly really digging this album a lot. The tune has winded down quite a bit by the end, until everything comes together at the end for one really epic and groovy crescendo. The drums really take everything in for a nice landing while the rest of the instruments fade out with some feedback. Great tune.
“Accept My Ring (Alternate)” has a really familiar feel, and definitely is a nice tune to revisit, especially with some variation to it. It sounds like this one might be a little slower than the one played earlier, but I’m not sure about that at the moment. There’s a really nice mellow feel to this one as the album is nearly at the end. Definitely a nice tune.
Oh wow, “Rap-A-Tap (Early Version)” has some pure garage rock energy to it with the raw sound and energy from the instrumentation and the steady, forward feeling momentum put forth by the nice distortion and steady rhythm to this one. Oh wow, things get pretty clean for a moment, almost breaking through to a different song altogether. I’m really digging the way this one sounds at the end of the album, the band seems to steadily build up a very gradual crescendo that seems to wrap up the playing of both the song and the album.
Wow, this album is awesome. There’s a whole lot of musical evolution that takes place in the album, going from a sort of soft garage pop to bluesy psychedelic garage rock. I was really into this one. The short length of all the songs was really nice and gave a lot of dynamic feeling to this album as it continued to progress. If you enjoy garage rock and/or psychedelic rock, this is an album you might want to consider checking out. If you do decide to give this one a listen, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the experience at least as much as I did.
-A