Lucille Furs - Another Land flac album

If anything stands out on the package, it's the package itself, both sides of the jacket's cover art reflect psychedelic pop 60's culture at its best, with the vinyl itself being presented in classic black, cream, and a luscious translucent orange and pink half & half (this is the copy I have). All of the records are only available only in France, meaning hefty shipping costs. With that in mind, I found my coloured vinyl pressing to be lacking, there was a good deal of surface noise on the record, though (laughing) perhaps that's part of the 60's inspirational package, though most likely is due to lackluster plastic that often accompanies coloured vinyl releases. Also, the grooves on my issue appear to not have been cut deeply enough, hence most styluses do not ride evenly, nor are they able to reveal all of the information or create a remarkable sonic delivery. My spindle hole was severely shy of usefulness, where only after four attempts at enlarging it was I able to get it onto my turntable ... this of course splintered the center label paper, making it a record that will never be near mint.To say Lucille Furs harkens back the spirit of the 60’s without being beholden to it would be an untruth, as they are sincerely beholden to everything about the 60’s, beginning with their first Beatlesque notes straight from the song “Come Together,” followed by “I’m Looking Through You,” along with more Monkees’ tributes than I could count. It’s one thing to look back at those hazed days and want to channel the spirt of those times, it’s quite another to attempt to revise those sounds without a point of reference, other than the records of one’s parents left lying about. Oasis brought these sort of references to life years ago with a sly smile, purpose and vision. Lucille Furs seems content to evoke these and other memories, visions of the Kinks, the Zombies, Syd Barrett and The Moody Blues, all set to lightweight gauge psych meanderings. The trouble is, even from their lofty 34th floor vantage point, it’s evident that Lucille Furs never set foot on Carnaby Street during the rise of flower power, making it evidently clear that they are simply re-interrupting a very aged and bleached photograph of what once happened so many year ago. This is by no means quintessential pop music, where even if the band’s photoshoot sees them tethered together in a Union Jack scarf (ah-la the Who), taking their album name Another Land from the Rolling Stone song “In Another Land” from Their Satanic Majesties Request, or the band’s name Lucille Furs from the Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs” … a rather bold move if I may say so.This is not to say that the album doesn’t have its moments, where perhaps for people like themselves who have no direct connection to these fuzzed jangling guitars and light handed harmonies, this may all come across as fresh and reminiscent, when in fact it’s all rather difficult to listen to for me, as I was running through a checklist in my mind of what chords were lifted from which songs, imagining that these guys would be shaking their Beatle styled haircuts in time to their kaleidoscope guitar strumming, meaning it’s rather strange to be referring to Lucille Furs as a timelessly groovy pop band. One could certainly say that these folks are clever, though they do not paint sophisticated sonic tapestries woven from dreamy glorification, nor are they to be considered a thinking man’s psych band … they are merely a paint by numbers assemblage of riffs and expressions, that while perhaps sounding lovelorn for a time they can’t relate to, should be embarrassed at their unapologetic flowery melodies with heavily conscripted chords and lyrical visions that have all been reformatted directly from rather important songs from those heady days … why even the album art is taken directly from the John Mayall album Turning Point.How many times paisley pop can be reinvented is anyone’s guess, though to make a lasting impression, a band is going to need to be far more original than this, as Lucille Furs are nothing more than a sugar coated niche band band who will have but a short moment in the sun, drenched in their 60’s apparel and presentation, coming across more as a ‘lounge act’ and not an actual music group. While this may seem to be fun for the moment, there’s nothing lasting here, leaving you with a record or compact disc you’ll wonder why in the world you purchased by this time next year.Review by Jenell Kesler

This is the kind of review that is not beneficial or helpful to anyone, ever. This is a good album, enjoy.