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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Andrew Gold

The Fraternal Order of All: Greetings from Planet Love

Review by Gary Hill

This is an intriguing and unique album with a captivating history. It sounds like it could have been released in the heady days of the 1960s. Yet it was actually released in 1997. It is just now getting this new reissue treatment. The music is all performed by Andrew Gold, but it is credited as a host of fictional musicians known as The Fraternal Order of All. This touches on all the giants of the 1960s including the Beach Boys, the Doors and The Byrds. The main inspiration, though, is obviously the Beatles. This is a fun release that really captures the sound of that time.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 5 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review
Greetings from Planet Love
Backwards tracked stuff and trippy weirdness is the order of business here. This is freaky stuff.
Rainbow People
Beatles-like trippy, pop sensibilities drive this cut. It manages to rock out like crazy, too.
Love Tonight
Bouncy, pop oriented and pretty psychedelic, this is an entertaining piece. This feels more like The Beach Boys than it does The Beatles.
Chasing My Tail
Weird trippy effects are heard at the start of this. Tue cut has a warped, warbled effect at play. I can hear some Beatles, but perhaps also some early Bee Gees on this. It turns to dreamy pop styled psychedelia later in the track.
Swirl
A short cut, this has twisted, freaky circus music at its heart. It's sort of an interlude.
Tuba Rye and Will's Son / Balloon in the Sky
This is a dynamic and growing piece. It has plenty of 1960s pop music along with prog and psychedelia. It's one of the most intriguing and evocative songs on this album.
King of Showbiz
A more rocking song, this is all class. It really doesn't feel like any of the bands referenced before. It's a more mainstream pop rock song with perhaps a bit of a Todd Rundgren thing at play.
Whirl
This short instrumental piece is packed full of psychedelic weirdness. It has a little clip of Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz."
Freelove Baby

Here we get more Beatles-like sound in the form of rocking psychedelically tinged tune. This is fun stuff. The guitar soloing is classy, and the horns are a nice touch. There is a weird, drugged out party scene at the end.

Groovy Party at Jimmy's Magic Pad
This feels precisely like the image the title paints for me. It turns pretty sexual with a female voice mid-track.
It's Beautiful
Less than a minute long, this has a real atmospheric vibe early. It turns to more of a fully developed mellow song later.
Wink of the Third Eye
Leaning on weird trippiness, I think I hear spoken Beatles voices as sound clips in the backdrop at times. This is another psychedelic journey.
It Has No Eyes But Sight
This short interlude has trippy symphonic music and a spoken voice. It feels like something Spinal Tap might do.
Twirl
Symphonic, and feeling a little like "Eleanor Rigby," this also has some things that feel a bit like the "Psycho" soundtrack to me. It's a short instrumental.
Space and Time

Classy 1960s pop rock is on the menu here. This feels quite a bit like The Byrds to me.

Time Is Standing Still
Trippy, spacey sounds are on display as this gets going. That eventually gives way to more of a bouncy, pop sort of groove. There are definitely Beach Boys vibes here. There is a weird channel hopping thing at the end.
Ride the Snake
Here Gold channels The Doors pretty directly. It's solid.
Mr. Plastic Business Man

This seems to merge The Beatles with Bob Dylan. It's another intriguing and classy tune.

Ccosmicc Ccarnivall
Here we get another short trippy bit of psychedelia.
Tomorrow Drop Dead
I love this killer psychedelically drenched rocker. It's so much fun. It's one of my favorites here, and I really love some of the guitar work on this so much. Backwards tracked stuff is a great touch, too. This earns a parental advisory. It seems to end, but then a freaky, tripped out reprise comes up. It turns out to weird echoey space stuff after that ends.
 
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