Thorinshield - Thorinshield (1968)
Thorinshield - Thorinshield (1968)
Artist: Thorinshield
Album: Thorinshield (Remastered & Expanded Edition)
Released: 1968 (2006)
Label: Fallout - FOCD2005
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Only album from the psyche tinged folk/pop group, first time on CD. Long time cult heroes among sunshine pop fans due to their beautiful harmonies and classy orchestrations. Definitely more of a folksy sound clearly influenced by the flourishing Psyche scene of the time the band despite being American had a very "English" sound with nods towards The Beatles, Donovan and Chad and Jeremy . Much neglected Los Angeles '60's pop that's highly recommended. Original eleven track album with two bonus tracks rare non-LP 45's, "Family Of Man" and "Lonely Mountain Again." Also includes: "Prelude To A Postlude", "Life In A Dream", "Daydream" and "Collage Of Attitudes." - Freak Emporium
The U.S. folk-psych trio Thorinshield have long been cult favorites amongst "sunshine pop" aficionados, but their sole 1968 album has never been available on CD before. A mixture of folk, psychedelia and harmony pop that features dazzling harmonies akin to those being created by Curt Boettcher at the same time, it is presented here complete with two rare non-LP sides, showing the band to be an unfairly-neglected piece of Los Angeles 1960s pop jigsaw. - Forced Exposure
Reissue of one and only album by US psych/pop band, who recorded this album in 67/68 to be released on Philips. Nice pop tunes with freaky psych arrangments, and excellent harmony vocals. Not unlike LEFT BANK!! - PandorasBox
Thorinshield is sometimes labeled a sunshine pop band by collectors, but though they share some traits with Californian sunshine pop artists, they had a more straightforward, less lightweight rock flavor than many acts given that label. On their sole, obscure, self-titled album (from 1968), the influences of the melodic rock and vocal harmonies of the 1966-1967 Beatles are evident, as are some of the ornate orchestration, production trickery, and trippily optimistic-romantic lyrics that were becoming in vogue throughout much pop music by the late '60s. To some degree, the influence of the slicker folk-rock-affiliated Southern Californian artists can be heard as well, along with dashes of baroque melody and instrumentation. It was a reasonably pleasant, good-natured record, and certainly well produced (with vocals that were much less fluffy than the usual sunshine pop), but the material isn't strong enough to hold up with the better artists with whom they share some similarities. The trio comprising Thorinshield was formed by drummer Terry Hand (who had been in the Everpresent Fullness), guitarist James Smith, and bassist Bobby Ray, who'd been a session musician on Donovan's classic 1966 Sunshine Superman album. (Indeed, the Donovan influence was quite prominent on a couple of the better Thorinshield tracks, "One Girl" and the non-LP single "Family of Man.") Their album was produced by top L.A. session saxophonist Steve Douglas, with arranger Perry Botkin, Jr., also contributing. The LP didn't make any waves, however, and the group broke up after the subsequent non-LP 45 "Family of Man"/"Lonely Mountain Again." Terry Hand joined another little-known psychedelic pop group, the Moon, and Bobby Ray made a solo album in 1970, Initiation of a Mystic. The Thorinshield album was reissued on CD in 2006, with the addition of the two songs from the non-LP single as bonus tracks. - Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
The mysteriously-named Thorinshield released an album and two singles in 1968 which, though they sank without trace, are now prized by fans of so-called 'sunshine pop'. Their roots lay in Los Angeles, where drummer Terry Hand had played in numerous surf bands, as well as recording two singles with Everpresent Fullness. Bassist Bobby Ray, meanwhile, was a seasoned session player who had participated in Donovan's legendary May 1966 sessions in LA, resulting in songs including the classic Season Of The Witch. They teamed up with guitarist James Ray in 1967, and Smith and Ray began to write commercial songs together that reflected an interest in both folk and psychedelia.
Having scored a deal with Philips records and recruited famed sax player Steve Douglas (whom Ray probably knew through the session circuit) as producer, and legendary arranger Perry Botkin (later to work with the Righteous Bros, Harry Nilsson, Bobby Darin, Barbara Streisand and many others), their sole, self-titled album was recorded at numerous studios (Western Recorders, Wally Heider, Inc. and RCA Victor) in late 1967 and early 1968. A varied but consistent collection, its songs featured intricate harmonies akin to the work being carried out at the same time by Curt Boettcher on albums by Sagittarius and the Millennium (check out Pleasure Time), complex orchestrations (Prelude To A Postlude) and psychedelic guitar work (One Girl).
A single was extracted (Life Is A Dream I The Best Of It), promo copies of which came in a picture sleeve, but neither it nor the LP (promo copies of which were accompanied by an extensive press kit) sold. A further, non-LP 45 appeared later in 1968 (Family Of Man I Lonely Mountain Again, included here as bonus tracks), but when it also failed to sell, the band splintered. Smith is not known to have continued with a career in music, but Hand joined soft-psych band The Moon, and Ray recorded an excellent folk-psych solo LP entitled Initiation Of A Mystic, which appeared on Johnny Rivers's Soul City label in 1970. Though the album they made together was ignored for decades, it is now rightly regarded as a minor classic of late 60s soft psychedelia. - Fallout
James Smith - guitar
Bobby Ray - bass
Terry Hand - drums
Tracklist:
1 Life Is a Dream (02:06)
2 Brave New World (02:24)
3 Wrong, My Friend (02:23)
4 Here Today (02:44)
5 Pleasure Time (02:24)
6 Best of It (02:28)
7 Daydreaming (02:49)
8 Light That Love Brings (02:27)
9 Prelude to a Postlude (04:15)
10 One Girl (02:16)
11 Collage of Attitudes (02:04)
12 Family of Man (Bonus Track) (04:45)
13 Lonely Mountain Again (Bonus Track) (03:16)