DRY ICE
Mary's Meth Dream (American Sound; LP)
OK, first the physical aspect, the packaging. A limited and numbered edition of 300. Pressed on white vinyl and housed in a thick card cover with b/w pasted on sleeve designs. It looks and 'feels' like a classic '70s great white wonder, both nostalgic and splendid! So what about the music? The fourteen tracks were recorded between 1967-69 '…at Fleetwood and some other forgotten studio in Malden…' (and that's not in Surrey!) and may or may not represent the entire output of the legendary US psychsters. Dry Ice's rep hangs on two genre defining moments in the form of 'Mary Is Alone' ('Mary is alone and wants to live but all she sees is death, Mary is alone and wants to live but all she sees is meth' - hence the LP title) and 'Mr Sawyer'. Both these are present and correct, in fact in 'Mary's' case it is over-present, there are three takes included. The third, which is the final track on side 2, seems to be a mix and match of the other two to demonstrate how they differ (i.e. one is the released version, the other a demo).
Mr Sawyer, a great US styled popsiker has just the one appearance whilst other originals (all written by band member John Tata) 'Ocean' and 'Sunny Day' appear twice each (see if you can hear a difference). Both these numbers have a strong affinity to Mr Sawyer's lightweight psych rock approach and are highly enjoyable. Then there is the cover of Sonny Boy Williams II's 'Eyesight To The Blind', which is neither a straight copy or a dreary blues rock dirge. It's short and sweet but reinvents the song in suitably lysergic tones. 'Let's Go Down' is a quiet and introspective number that makes you want to "shhh" other people in the room. Other covers are less adventurous and will have as much (or more) appeal to garage heads as to anyone else. 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'Oh Darling', 'Lucy Mae' and 'Sweet Little Sue' are all nicely fluid renditions with acid blues guitar breaks but which don't outstay their welcome and which as complete numbers have a distinct late era garage feel. Probably these are a taste of what comprised their usual live set. Overall the sound quality is good and as a whole the package represents a genuine (most of these recordings have not been issued before) and (a warmly welcomed) old-world type of collector's piece.
|
