Put away for a reason, now it doesn't matter - too great to
Robert J. Crowley | Sudbury, MA United States | 10/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I first heard BFI by The Dragons I was sure, absolutely sure, that it had to be from 1967 or 1968. Those years of sudden music evolution are burned into my brain and things changed fast then. Six months were like three years. So it isn't a surprise to me that this CD was never released. Why? Because it was already dated in 1970, when it was recorded. The Fifth Dimension, Hair, Laugh-In and various West Coast grooves, including very good ones like Spirit's album Spirit, were already passe. This album just wasn't hip - Boz Scaggs and Led Zepp were taking over already, and the la la innocent psychedelic flower days were over, sadly.
But now it doesn't matter. This masterpiece of late 60s motifs, cliches, idioms and kitsch, recorded in glorious hole-in-the-middle stereo multitrack, with various Bonzo Dog, Tony Williams Lifetime, and Todd Rundgrenesque embellishments, is like an Austin Powers film in sound - a perfect review of all that was ever so groovy, in a condensed, concise and very entertaining form.
And the sound! Analog was wonderful, the masters are clean, wonderful to hear, nostalgic, even luscious. One thing is proven, and that is the adage that drums are everything - these are and more, as well as the other very competent (but perhaps a bit too uncool) musicians. Buy it and believe that this tape sat in the vault all those years like some Egyptian archaeological find, a gem now uncovered."
Misnomer
Brian Chidester | Los Angeles, CA United States | 02/08/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great lost treasure of Los Angeles psychedelic surf. However, it is not, as has been written, the first album recorded by the Dragons. This group put out one single ("Elephant Stomp" b/w "The Troll") on Capitol Records in 1964, which was culled from the independent surf film "Strictly Hot" by Dale Davis. There was, in fact, a full album's worth of material recorded for Davis's genius flick, and Del-Fi Records even ran a Dragons ad (with cubist album jacket art) in a 1964 issue of "Surfer" magazine. Alas, the album was never released, with the film and the 45 being the only presence of that music currently available. It is a crying shame that the "Strictly Hot" soundtrack has sat dormant for all of these years, as it is scorching like most surf instrumental albums of the early '60s, yet jazzy and exotic, as would be expected from tunes filled with vibraphone and electric organ.
As for BFI, its excellence lies in the fact that it floats gracefully next to other underappreciated psych-surf LPs by the likes of Friar Tuck, the Dave Myers Effect and amazing soundtracks by Davie Allan & the Arrows. The two instrumentals on this album lend credence to the notion that surf music could have continued into the '70s, if not for surf-jocks and snobs turning their nose up at its very existence.
Essential listening!"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1