Telegraph Avenue

71年におけるペルー・ロックが到達した高みを示すソフト・サイケの秘宝テレグラフ・アヴェニューの71年1STアルバム。
辺境ロック・マニアのみならず、ソフト・ロック・ファン、サイケ・ファン、60'Sポップ・ファンと、幅広く音楽好きにアピールできる傑作。何といっても目玉は、アルゾ&ユーディーンの青春疾走系名曲"SOMETHING GOING"の驚愕カヴァー。
ソフト・ロック・ファン感涙必至のナイス・チューンに仕上がっています。その他、ポップ・ファン～ソフト・サイケ・ファンの琴線に触れること間違いなしの充実曲ぞろいで何度聴いてもフレッシュ。特にベースの音がヤバすぎます。ここに収録された楽曲は全てシングルカットされたほどで、当時からジャケットも印象的だったという本作、うれしいLPリイシューです。

The liner notes are frustratingly vague on the origins of these 16 tracks. But because the first eight songs feature the lineup that played on their first album and the next eight songs feature the lineup that played on their second album, it seems reasonable to assume that this compiles most or all of the material from Telegraph Avenue's two LPs. It's pleasant if not engaging listening, and sometimes pretty easy to tell where the influence is coming from. "Lauralie" sounds like a variation of Tommy James' "Crystal Blue Persuasion," for instance, while "Happy" has enough late-Beatles pop ambience to please fans of Badfinger or the Nazz; "Sometimes in Winter" has some traits of Santana. Some slight South American folk elements cruise in on tracks like "Sungaligali." The final eight cuts, presumably taken from the 1975 album, are a little more hard rock guitar-oriented, but don't sound all that heavier than the previous ones (presumably taken from the 1971 album). These mid-'70s tracks have an anachronistic feel that makes them feel a few years behind the times, which is if anything a compliment, not a putdown. ~ Richie Unterberger