Reply #2: "Turn to Straw" [View All]

[last_texas_dem]

This is actually a really cool creepy-sounding psychedelic-rock song from the group's debut, one of the more schizophrenic albums I've ever heard. The album is half-"Yummy Yummy Yummy"/ "Down at Lulu's" Kasenatz-Katz bubblegum, and the other half psychedelic-influenced rock. The reason being that the latter was what the original group really sounded like when they were signed, and the bubblegum stuff was what the producers wanted, and the producers ended up winning out in terms of what the bulk of the group's stuff would sound like beyond that album. (Plus, a number of members quit or were fired, some tracks were played by studio musicians while others were the actual band, etc.) But the debut album contains a pretty interesting juxtaposition of styles.

Oh yeah, and speaking of "creepy-sounding psychedelic-rock song"s I have to give some credit to the b-side of "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy", "Zig-Zag"; that one must have scared the hell out of half of the eight year old kids who bought the "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" single. It's this weird instrumental that sounds like the track of another song played in reverse, with some creepy carnival organ playing this repetitive, dark-sounding melody over it.