Flowerman: Rare Blooms From The Syn 1965-69

Resenha do Álbum

The story of the mid-'60s freakbeat-leaning British group the Syn is one of poor management, label interference, unstable lineups, missed opportunities, and a handful of classic tracks. The tale is told in the liner notes of the 2021 collection Flowerman: Rare Blooms from the Syn 1965-69, and it's definitely worth reading while giving the disc a spin. The band's two singles from 1967 are here alongside a handful of demos, early tracks recorded in 1965 when they were known as the Selfs, two songs recorded in 1974 under the name Narsquijack, and a reunion song from 2004. The tracks cut by the Syn proper are the main attraction here and show a group with a split personality. Their classic song "Grounded" is R&B-based rock with clanging guitars, tough vocals, and enough punch to knock out anyone foolish enough to take it on in a street fight. On the flip side, "Created by Clive" is an arch psych-pop trifle forced upon the band by their label. The Syn hated it, but it's a fun slice of whimsy that's bolstered by the crunch of the rhythm section. That was their first single; their second one is slightly more unified yet still shows a group looking for an identity. "Flowerman" is sunny pastoral pop that bounces along merrily, and "14 Hour Technicolour Dream" is hokey psychedelic pop that sounds clichéd, but is again given life by the sprightly performance. The other track here that was recorded in 1967 is a rehearsal-room demo of a suitably weird song called "The Gangster Opera," which sounds like a British version of the kind of theatrical psych the Alice Cooper Band did a couple years later. Another demo from 1966 ("Merry-Go-Round") is rowdy and rough, coming across like a garage band from Sacramento, while tracks recorded in 1965 as the Selfs are actually pretty bad. The cover of "I Can't Explain" is barely functional; the original, "Love You," sounds like the first song they ever wrote. The tunes are very skippable, but do point out just how much better the band got over the next couple of years. The 1969 songs show just how far away from "Grounded" the group drifted. "The Last Performance of the Royal Regimental Very Victorious and Valiant Band" is the Royal Guardsmen with a fancy accent, and "Mister White's White Flying Machine" is theater rock complete with sound effects, female vocals, and all sorts of horns. It's very different from their classic sound, but actually not too bad. Although the '70s songs and the reunion track are here to complete the story, they're so far afield from the rest of the collection that they could have been left off and it wouldn't have caused any pain. The Syn existed on the fringes of the British psych and freakbeat scene; this collection shows why they never made it, but it also gives tantalizing glimmers of what could have been if they had gotten a few breaks along the way.

© Tim Sendra /TiVo