The Freeborne - Peak Impressions (1967) (2007)

The Freeborne's sole album is, in common with the mildly better-known '60s Boston psychedelic bands who comprised the Bosstown Sound, something of a goulash of then-trendy underground rock crosscurrents. It's not quite a ghoulish goulash, but it's not too tasty either, though they come up with some nice minor-key vocal harmonies. The record sounds like it was steeped in many listening sessions to the most popular psychedelic records of 1967, particularly the Doors' first album, Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow, and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. Also at work are some jazz, classical, and raga influences, albeit of the sort by young musicians just getting to grips with those forms. The flaws of the album are that there aren't outstanding songs, and that the mood shifts seem more like an attempt to be as eclectic as possible than they do like genuinely well-thought-out compositional statements. The overall spacey, haunting feel of the record sometimes verges on self-conscious creepiness. It's embroidered by novel use of recorder, cello, harpsichord, and trumpet from time to time, though electric organ in the mold of the Doors or Country Joe & the Fish is more prominent, as is California psychedelia-influenced guitar. The CD reissue on Distortions adds bonus tracks of marginal worth: the mono 45 version of "Images," and a "stereo mix #2" of "Land of Diana." by Richie Unterberger