Here Again

British group Misty was especially short-lived, releasing only one single in 1970 and breaking up shortly after it failed to garner much commercial attention. The band put together a complex sound despite their limited lifespan, with energetic, organ-driven tunes that skittered between flourishes of baroque sweetness and raw, jittery rock parts that presaged prog-rock. Misty recorded an albums worth of material in late 1969, but the project was shelved and eventually abandoned after their single "Hot Cinnamon" flatlined. Here Again gives the songs a proper presentation, with 11 previously unreleased tunes originally intended to be Mistys debut album joined by a few live recordings and the tracks from their sole single. Despite the convoluted release history of the material, Here Again flows well in the album format. The head-spinningly ambitious opener, "Witness for the Resurrection," starts the collection off by going in as many different directions as possible at once, but "Here Again" mellows things out considerably with restrained, classically informed melodies that evoke the same soft existential searching as Loves masterpiece, Forever Changes. "Lazy Guy" is even more straightforward, with bumbling AM radio vocal melodies glued together with stock horn arrangements and twinkly interplay between piano and vibraphone. "Hot Cinnamon" (one of two songs released when the band was active) splits the difference between accessibility and weirdness with quick bursts of nervous fuzz guitar and tense rock songwriting that break abruptly into classical organ arpeggios. Mistys bizarre pastiche of classical playing and psychedelic rock likely made them too jarring for audiences of their day, but they fit nicely among the endless ranks of overlooked but fascinating bands from the late 60s and early 70s who were making incredible music just a little bit too ahead of their time. ~ Fred Thomas