Turquoise - The Further Adventures Of Flossie Fillet (1966-69) [2006]

A quick listen to Turquoise with no knowledge of their background will surely bring two names immediately to mind: the Kinks and the Who. So, it should be no surprise that Turquoise were not only influenced by their British peers but were close associates, friends of Ray and Dave Davies, produced by Dave for their first demos -- when the band was still known as "the Brood" -- and produced by Keith Moon and John Entwistle for their second round of pre-professional recordings. Turquoise released two singles for Decca in 1968 before disbanding and those two singles, like much British pop-psych, earned them a cult of some size, eventually leading to Rev-Ola's 2006 release of The Further Adventures of Flossie Fillett: The Complete Recordings which collects both sides of those two singles -- "53 Summer Street"/"The Tales of Flossie Fillett" and "Woodstock"/"Saynia" -- along with all the other demos, unreleased cuts and alternate takes the group left behind. More than any other band from the late '60s, Turquoise modeled themselves after mid-period Kinks, circa Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society to the extent that singer/songwriter Jeff Peters (who wrote almost all of the band's recorded work, usually in collaboration with Ewan Stephens) even penned his own tune called "Village Green." Like the Kinks, Turquoise were distinctly, defiantly British in subject matter and approach -- among their unreleased items is a knees-up stomp-along called "Sunday Best" reminiscent of the Small Faces (and oddly prescient of Blur's "Sunday Sunday") -- often sounding fey and campy yet managing to stay away from being overtly twee, and even if their melodies could sigh and swirl in psychedelic colors, they never were that trippy: they were grounded by acoustic guitars that jangled like Ray Davies' on Something Else and they had ragged harmonies and a pop sense reminiscent of the brothers Davies. And when Turquoise broke free of the Kinks -- as on the absolutely terrific "Woodstock" which barrels forward on a moddish Motown beat and has a wicked Dylan impression on the chorus -- they're quite terrific, but when they were close to the Kinks, which they were for most of their career, they're merely good, even if not especially memorable. But for fans of British pop of the '60s that was obsessed with being British -- whether that means the Kinks, the Small Faces, mod-era Who or parts of the Move -- The Further Adventures of Flossie Fillett provides just enough unheard gems to be worthwhile.