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(TV) Pontrelli's obscure masterpiece (gem) of the week
Misunderstood
Before the Dream Faded
Cherry Red Records
http://www.agt-gems.com/AGTbook/misunderstood.html
Here's what the critics have to say:
Vintage psychedelia. Anyone who likes the Pebbles anthologies will be sure to dig these way-out sounds from a Riverside, CA, band that broke up in 1966. What I always like about this sort of stuff is the wild lead guitar (they don't play it like they used to) and this group has it all; the screaming string-bending of Quicksilver, 8 Miles High raga-rock, a retread of Shapes of Things, lots of unusual slide work. A couple of the earlier cuts are not too much above the run-of-the-mill white blues of the time, but in all its
gradual progress form garage-rock to full-blown trippiness and hippydippiness, this shows consistently high energy. All I can say is, far out.
* 1982 Chris Stigliano - Op Magazine
If you're searching for the great lost psychedelic group of the 1960s, or the American version of the
Yardbirds, this record miraculously fits the bill. A band of California expatriates who achieved brief
recognition in the London underground before they were forced to disband due to immigration and draft
problems, this was an awesomely powerful lineup which intriguingly mixed raga-rock, blues-rock, and
plain old rave-ups around the amplified distortion wizardry of lead guitarist (on steel!) Glenn Ross
Campbell (later in UK's Juicy Lucy). Recorded in late 1966, the six songs on side one show the group
at the peak of their power, with striking instrumental innovations and interplay which anticipate Jimi
Hendrix and the Pink Floyd months before either had recorded. Campbell is one of the best unheralded
rock guitarists; his playing suggests the missing link between the Yardbirds and Hendrix, with amazing
amplified Middle Eastern whines, wails, and explosions. Despite some recklessly revelatory lyrics, the
group's nerve-wrackingly daring time changes, Indian-like modes and unconventional song structures
along with their otherworldly interpretations (Who Do You Love, I Unseen), create a killer thrust which
is on par with the best efforts of the era. Side two consists of demos made before the group moved to
London (some without Campbell). Although not as noteworthy as side one, it's still well worth hearing,
including takes from their early garage band days (a weird cross between the Yardbirds and Beau
Brummels), tentative early forays into blues-rock, and a revolutionary raga-rock treatment of the
Yardbirds' I'm Not Talking. Although the Misunderstood released only a couple singles in their lifetime
(1965-1966), this album (most of it previously unreleased) is still mindblowing after over 15 years, and
really unlike anything you've ever heard before. Excellent liner notes and photos, too.
* 1982 Richie Unterberger - Op Magazine
Instead of the comforting curlicues of country, The Misunderstood's Glen Ross Campbell transformed
the pedal steel guitar into a bucking, snarling monster of distortion, feedback and whine. Their debut
single, I Can Take You To The Sun, is one of the few hippy-era recordings whose power remains
undimmed by time, but whose aching fragility ill-equipped it for chart action or the heavier battle about
to transform rock. The follow-up, Children Of The Sun, featured Campbell in tougher mood, and fared
somewhat better, though not well enough to prevent the group dissolving. This album collects together
the six tracks they recorded for Fontana, including the above, plus a further six culled from demos and
acetates recorded earlier in California - some by future DJ John Peel - which portray the group as
closest to The Yardbirds in theiry embellishment of blues covers with tricksy guitar effects.
* 1992 Andy Gill - Q Magazine
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