A group with a sound and ambience that you would probably need to make up if it didn't actually exist. The Fallen Angels, (and what a name that is) an American Psychedelic band from Washington D.C and the late Sixties. They had a sound to match their name. Very much of their time and perhaps not having enough about them to mark them out as true cult geniuses, they're still worth investigating.
Their eponymous, debut album from '67 is where you want to start. Baroque, in the way that Left Banke and Zombies were, reflective but not indulgent. At least not generally. They do have some moments which are and mark it very much as a record of its time that falls just short of being essential.
But it's still a record that has much to recommend it.. The sounds of Pop from these years is at such a remove from the concerns of our times that it seems like almost a lost garden and a highly attractive one at that.
The Fallen Angels is a really rather lovely record in many ways. Change of mood, carefree innocence, a reminder of times long gone and ones highly unlikely ever to be repeated. Alongside those mentioned above I'd also throw in Lovin' Spoonful, Kinks, Cryan' Shames, Manfred Mann and Turtles. That all adds up to a small feast to me. The kind of record Anton Newcombe should hear if he hasn't already though I imagine as an arch completist in this respect that he already has. Many times.
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