Brain Police (Reissue)

The Brain Police's sole LP, actually a demo disc in a plain sleeve made with the intention of attracting label interest, is fair but unexceptional local 1968 psychedelia. It's one of those records without any serious flaws, but also without any seriously exceptional properties to compel cult interest (although, obviously, it got some cult interest, as it eventually got reissued on CD with bonus tracks). There are baroque pop influences in some of the melodies, harmonies, and arrangements; shifts in tempo and tune that obviously took some time to work out, even if they weren't that striking; tight interplay between guitars and organ; and a bit of blues and heavy psych to the solos. Sometimes this has a nearly AM radio pop/rock bounce that's lighter than usual for bands of this ilk (as on "Find Me a Moment"), but there's also grinding bluesy rock ("Gypsy Fast Woman"); the intro to "Adler" takes liberally from Cream's arrangement of "I'm So Glad." [The CD reissue on Normal/Shadoks doubles the track listing with ten bonus cuts, including the 1969 single "World of Wax"/"Smoking at Windsor Hill"; the sunny, almost geeky pop/rock of a 1964 single by the Mandells, who included Brain Police songwriters Rick Randle and Norman Lombardo; and three garage singles from 1965-1966 by the Other Four, who also had Randle and Lombardo in the lineup.]