The Clouds Scrapbook

This is an oddly compelling album from a band that never got its due, despite some good reviews (for their concerts as well as their records) and did at least one international tour. The music is a strange mix of early prog rock, psychedelia, and baroque pop, moderately orchestrated pieces bumping up against works of Beatlesque music hall jollity ("Grandad") and spaced-out weirdness ("Waiter, There's Something in My Soup"). They weren't too strong in the vocal department, but Clouds reveal themselves as amazingly powerful in most other areas on this debut album, which seems to have been (rather successfully) aimed at bridging the gap between Sgt. Pepper/Mystery Tour-style psychedelic pop and the prog rock experiments of the Nice, the Moody Blues, and other such bands. Organist Billy Ritchie is the dominant musician, but bassist/guitarist/vocalist Ian Ellis gets moments to shine as well, and when the orchestrations aren't too prominent, drummer Harry Hughes has his innings. Island and producer Terry Ellis are to be commended for the time and money they put into this premiere effort by a trio that had yet to prove itself commercially, and leaving behind this enjoyable artifact from the psychedelic era. ~ Bruce Eder