Crystal Circus, USA (archival)

Crystal Circus - untitled. 1968 All-American

Here's another title that comes from the CD-R revisit project. I had started to enter this into the CDRWL about a month ago, when I began to discover that the album had never actually been released. After some research, it turns out I was correct. So like the Cathedral "Epilogue"album, this will be another archival release that we're requesting a CD for.

Ah, I can hear you already clamoring to get to your keyboard and write me a note. "No, Tom, you're wrong about this one. I've seen it and it has a title!" And indeed you have, I would respond. Which is why I hadn't even thought about the album much until last month. The working title of the album is "In Relation to Our Times", and it was released/named by Akarma.... for the first time ever in 2001. Dare I need say more? There is a demo copy that they got their hands on - and released it, without anything else other than a noisy tape and a nice cover. As far as I know this wasn't even pressed on wax initially. And if it was, no more than a handful were pressed. There's never been one for sale that I've ever seen in 25 years of pouring over rare catalogs.

Of course if the music wasn't very interesting, none of this would matter to me. But it is! Crystal Circus is one of the very rare bands from the 60's that really does remind one of Strawberry Alarm Clock (and both bands are from the Los Angeles area). As we've noted before, many dealers try in vain to make comparisons to the great SAC, only to have one scratching their head later and asking "Have you actually listened in full to"Incense and Peppermints" or "Wake Up... It's Tomorrow" before?". Crystal Circus has that same type of vibe, with wonderful harmonies, 60s sunshine naivete, and some great psych rock moments sprinkled throughout. Of course, it's not even close to the peaks of SAC, but anything within range of that great band is worthy of a proper issue.

Priority: 3