The Hangmen - Bitter Sweet flac album

Bitter Sweet, deeply influenced by the British invasion, is an album in and of its time, by a band who were very much in and of their time, if lasting no more than a moment or two, no doubt missing out on success due to the limited palette they present, a palette composed of rather naive songs of varying styles and arrangements, and while certainly suitable for radio friendly airplay, leave nothing memorable to swirl in your head. The Hangmen come off a bit like goofiness found in Country Joe & The Fish, though without the exotic psychedelia, making them a bit more like The Monkees, laced with Everly Brothers harmonies.Certainly some of the songs on the albums standup better than others, take “Let It Be Me,” which is full of feedback due to improper positioning of equipment that just left me feeling uncomfortable. They try a bit too hard when it comes to their lyrics, lyrics that don’t easily roll off the tongue, and are relentlessly wrapped around the drum kit, which has been presented much to far front and center, while other musical attitudes get themselves buried deep within the mix. This isn’t really garage psych, though The Hangmen do try to venture down that avenue, though even with all of their good intentions, they don’t get very far.This is another of those records that’s gained notoriety for being rare, with prices that have fluctuated up and down over the years. *** The Fun Facts: The tripped out image of The Hangmen on the cover was taken in the bedroom of Tom Guernsey’s apartment, and that’s Tom hiding behind the self portrait.The success of The Hangmen is rather speculative, nevertheless, going something like this: The Hangmen became the most popular band in the Washington, DC area, having a huge regional hit with "What a Girl Can’t Do", that appeared on Monument Records, but had actually been recorded by an earlier local group, the Reekers, whose membership included two future Hangmen, Tom Guernsey and Bob Berberich. The single was nonetheless credited to the Hangmen.Review by Jenell Kesler