The Flight Reaction debut album on 13 O'Clock rec's out soon

[mansson66]

Our first album is getting released in July. It's been lots of work and deliberately messy to record, as a homage to all the records we love. LOTS of bleeding between channels and so on. ''Psychedelic garage rock'' is probably what sums it up best... It's a mix of fuzz garage, moody numbers and jangle, with emphasis on melody and a lot of instruments (like mellotron, sitar, autoharp and even flute) added to the basic mix of guitar, bass and drums. Production wise it's all in. Soundwise it's deeply rooted in '67... mixed in mono of course. We've tried to make an album for people who, just like us, aren't all that interested in retro sounds. It's a been project born out of the necessity to have fun and to do what we wanna do.
http://13oclockrecords.com/news.html

 

[mansson66]

 

[pfft]

Sweet! I already emailed Brian and reserved a copy, so as soon as my next paycheck ticks in... bam!

 

[beccabear67]

If it's half as good as the single it's a 'must get it'!

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

What do you mean by "retro sound"? - the Paul Messis 45 sounds very retro to me. Thanks for alerting me to your site by the way!

 

[paul messis]

Mans I am really looking forward to your debut LP for sure.

retro is just a word to me... however I think what Mans meant is that its become a tag which sadly is a bit of a noose around the necks of bands/musicians who do make and take 60s styled garage band music seriously in today's day and age.

Garage and Psychedelia for that matter, has now become somewhat novel for many bands and musicians today.... however, there are a small amount of us, who live and breathe this music and just enjoy doing it for the sakes of doing it.

Maybe Mans could elaborate on the "retro" thing himself??


NOTE... I was speaking to a friend recently about my own music.... I was bemused how my music was called "retro" which made me laugh, cos from my point of view my music is somewhat "fresh"??? I guess this is what happens when one only really listens to music from 56 - 67??

 

[mansson66]

We don't try to sound dated is what I think I meant... we are totally contemporary, but within our own context

 

[mansson66]

Not that I think anyone else is trying to sound dated either... but the word 'retro' often gets tagged to anything that resembles a ''sixties sound'' and is a bit of a noose around the neck just like Paul writes... I don't think Paul's records sound retro - I just think they sound alive and good. It's the right sound for the songs. But let's not get into semantics here... it's just words anyway and the music is where it's really at

 

[beccabear67]

I only thought of something like The Kaisers as 'retro', or maybe even the Dukes Of The Stratosphere... as in them being pastiches... your enjoyment of them would be hampered by not knowing a fair amount about their inspiration. In a way the early Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band were what was reto in the '60s as they were referencing old '20s and music hall things. I would hope/think anyone could fully enjoy and appreciate Flight Reaction, Paul Messis, Suzi Chunk without knowing anything specific about earlier music. Does that make sense? Sort of like when John Fogerty's Old Man Down The Road was on the radio in the early '80s and you didn't have to know a thing about CCR to really get what a heavy sound that was.

 

[mansson66]

That's pretty spot on I think (although I know many people who enjoyed the Dukes back when it was new even though they didn't have a clue about obscure 60's psych sounds)
But I think my little 'retro comment' was mainly just a bad or at least not very thought through choice of words

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

I enjoyed your Nightmares track btw, Paul. What I don't like is modern covers of '60s garage: it's hard to do the originals justice. There would be a few notable exceptions, however: for example, the Lime Spiders cover of Save my Soul (Wimple Winch). The best sixties garage songs were originals, and the same principle applies today. This is, of course, a generalisation.

Perhaps, I should add that I heard the Lime Spiders version long before I'd heard the Wimple Winch original. Perhaps that tainted my opinion.

 

[paul messis]

Outside, its hard to do anything from the past justice.... just look at all the endless Rockabilly drek out there today.

I personally feel in terms of cover versions, its bold to attack a cover version... in my case, I've covered The Dovers, The Plagues, The Five Bucks and The Barons, through my recordings career (also did a Love cover, but thats on a tape reel somewhere, can't even remember doing it).... when I attempt a cover, my main aim is to try and at least make it similar, if I can do that I feel I have done okay... nothing will beat the original, but if you can at least make it sound like it would've been "take 3" of the original bands cut, when take 4 was the original, then thats cool in my book.

The Flight Reaction covered Citadel, by the Stones and I personally thought at first "wow how are they gonna top that".... but you know what, they equalled it and that's mind-blowing in itself.... I can imagine Mans and co, are pretty proud of that cover.


Either way, I reckon The Flight Reaction LP could be a highlight of this years album releases.

 

[beccabear67]

I usually like or at least respect really different version of past glories. In fact I may even like The Grapes Of Wrath's See Emily Play better than the Floyd original. I was sort of vaguely conscious of the power-pop boom in the '70s and '80s (as opposed to the more celebrated and important punk)... which was sort of like the Pre-Raphaelites in that they were going back before stadium and prog rock. There were really just a lot of non-nonsense music makers doing what they wanted to hear is all... I still have all the Greg Kihn records just like people ten years older than me kept all the Dave Clark Five and Paul Revere ones.

 

[Frantic]

I still have all the Greg Kihn records

We'll try not to hold that against you.:oops:

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

The best covers are indeed the ones that don't draw direct comparison: as beccabear suggests, they oughtn't imitate the original too closely. I guess that's why I could never stand covers bands, because they always try to stick to the original as much as possible. Sounds sterile to me. I guess that's okay to do IF you've got a much better sound than the original, because I believe there are only two ways to get away with doing a cover: either alter it sufficiently to avoid a direct comparison, or do it much better. I think that's pretty much what Paul is saying too.

 

[mansson66]

Citadel is the only cover we recorded and released. We have an unreleased version of The Beacon Street Union - 'Green Destroys the Gold' somewhere as well but that's about it. I think it's fun to play one or two covers live but they never stick around for too long in the set.

 

[pfft]

Just received my copy (with poster), and I'm spinning it right now.
Immediate thoughts: a future modern classic! It sounds fantastic - a warm and timeless production with lots of nice details and psychedelic intricacies. And most important of all: the songs are ace!

Another absolute winner from The Flight Reaction and 13 O'Clock Records.

 

[mansson66]

Thanks for the kind words Pffft!

 

[journeytotyme]

Speaking of the Flight Reaction LP, the first pressing is now sold out at the source, but the new pressing will be out very soon, most likely at the end of October.

 

[mansson66]

Here's a raving review by Lenny Helsing + interview.
http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.se/2014/11/the-flight-reaction-flight-reaction.html