Youngbloods
(Sundazed)
Built around the songwriting and voice of Jesse Colin Young, The Youngbloods found themselves in a peculiar position of power when their version of Dino Valente’s “Get Together” was released for a second time as a single and climbed up the charts in 1969. The band had turned in their final album for RCA and jumped over to Warner Brothers who let them have their own custom label, Raccoon. Their subsequent output favored live recordings, fake jazz noodling and the occasional song from Young which would serve as a respite from the growing weaknesses in their approach. Basically, they suffered from the era’s communal sensibilities which gave rise to the notion that being a capable supporting player was not as worthy as emoting, no matter how vacuous that impulses.
That final RCA album has been reissued, expanded with liner notes (penned by BLURT contributor Jud Cost) and a couple extra tracks. Elephant Mountain is as quaint an artifact as the ham fisted but well-intentioned painting on the cover — arguably the Youngbloods’ finest, most consistent work. Charlie Daniels was the producer, and his role was valuable in getting studio engineers to indulge his charges’ wishes to experiment. The set’s strongest songs are by Young and include the alluring “Darkness, Darkness” and the psychedelic pop of “Smug.” Other numbers of his have consistent character but don’t always transcend the genres he’s drawing from, leaving them in a pleasant haze of nostalgic charm. Rather than adding authenticity to “Beautiful,” the horns serve to make it clear that the band’s strength was in the realm of folk-rock and that they posed no threat to the Butterfield Blues Band. Lowell Levinger, otherwise known as Banana, was the band’s strongest instrumentalist, playing guitar and keyboards. However, his writing was slight. The instrumental “On Sir Francis Drake” would have been perfect at two-and-half-minutes, but it sticks around for nearly seven. That hippie groove thing will trip you up every time.
Standout Tracks: “Darkness, Darkness,” “Smug” DAVID GREENBERGER
