Misty Mirage

Misty Mirage is a collection of unreleased demos, live performances, and outtakes released on the London-based Poptones label, via their now-defunct From the Vaults imprint. The compilation features mostly never-before-released West Coast psych-folk tracks recorded by producer/songwriter/musician Curt Boettcher and a talented array of supporting musicians between 1966 and 1969, around the time of Sagittarius' Blue Marble album. Only two tracks, "Share With Me" and "Sometimes" (both sides of an obscure Boettcher 45 on Together Records and co-produced with Gary Usher), had been previously released when Poptones licensed these tracks. The leadoff number, a West Coast pop cover of the Sons of the Pioneers' 1934 hit "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," features Byrdsian lap steel guitar and swirling layers of Boettcher's dreamy upper-register vocal chorus work. The CD also features Boettcher's alternate (and previously unreleased) versions of tracks that were eventually issued by groups he was producing at the time. The set includes his versions of the Millennium's "The Know It All" and "I Just Want to Be Your Friend," Sagittarius' "You Know I've Found a Way" and "Another Time," and the title track, "Misty Mirage," and the echo-drenched piano-led "Astral Cowboy" (aka "Lament of the Astro Cowboy"). Both of these latter tracks, written by Boettcher, were recorded by Michele O'Malley for her Mike Deasy-produced Saturn Rings album. Last but not least is his version of "That's the Way It's Gonna Be" by Lee Mallory. The second half of the CD is an instrumental reprise of songs from the first half, rounded out with a handful of radio commercials — including two for Levi's jeans — and studio session outtakes.