Genre: psych
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: Animated Music
Company: Smash
Catalog: SRS-67114
Year: 1968
Country/State: Chicago, Illinois
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: sticker on cover; gatefold sleeve
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4
Price: $80.00
Cost: $66.00
Chicago's The
Trolls featured the talents of drummer Ken Apples, keyboardist Richard
Clark, guitarist Richard Gallagher and bassist Max Jordan Jr.
Formed in the mid-'60s, the quartet was initially signed by ABC Paramount,
where, starting with "Every Day and Every Night" b/w "Are You
the One?" (their only brush with chart success), they released a string
of four little heard singles. Dropped by ABC, 1968 found them recording an
obscure single for the small Chicago based USA label ("I've Got To Have
You" b/w "Don't Come Around").
Picked up by Mercury's Smash subsidiary (who elected to drop the plural,
leaving them as The Troll), the band's career enjoyed a major boost with the
release of their first album - 1968's "Animated
Music". Musically the set offered up an interesting mix
of conventional pop ("Have You Seen the Queen" and "Professor
Potts Pornographic Projector") and more psych oriented numbers
("Satin City News", "Mourning of the Day" and
"Werewolf and WItchbreath"). Certainly not the year's most
original offering, but the performances were all excellent and deserved to
have enjoyed wider recognition. Curiously, the liner notes don't include
songwriting credits. Fairly rare and a growing collectable, the set's been
heavy billed as a psychedelic masterpiece. While the album's very good, be
forewarned, to our ears it's more pop than psych. (In 1997 the small
Flashback label reissued the album in CD format - catalog number 10.)
"Animated Music" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Satin City
News - 2:38
2.) Mr. Abernathy - 3:22
3.) Fritz and Sweeny - 4:27
4.) Everybody's Child - 2:02
5.) Solitude - 0:28
6.) I've Only Got Myself To Blame - 3:45
(side 1)
2.) Professor
Potts Pornographic Projector- 2:57
3.) Have You Seen the Queen - 2:20
4.) Mourning of the Day - 5:09
5.) A Winter's Sog - 4:00
6.) Werewolf and WItchbreath - 5:15