Gale Garnett Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
On her pair of obscure late-'60s Columbia LPs, Gale Garnett had changed from the fairly middle-of-the-road pop-folk singer of the mid-'60s to one far more aligned with the pop/rock and psychedelia of the times. On the second of these, Sausalito Heliport, she was backed (as she had been on the first) by the Gentle Reign. Unfortunately, the general facelessness and purposeless eclecticism of the material and arrangements remained, leaving one to wonder just what Garnett might have accomplished had she been in a band with truly good songwriters. For the songs here aren't much to rave about, sometimes seeming like awkward attempts to get in on the California psychedelic rock action, with occasional downright embarrassing improvised-sounding lyrics on some of the more ambitious numbers. "There is a flower and it is growing in your head, all you have to do is water it" Garnett solemnly intones in "Water Your Mind"; you can just see Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention gagging in the background. The six-minute "Freddy Mahoney" is an out-and-out awful satirical poke at straight family life with woefully unfunny spoken mock-dialogue that goes on and on for minutes after you wonder just how much more you can take of it. Letting it escape from the studio was bad enough; putting it as cut one, side one rates as willful self-sabotage. The rest of the record isn't as bad -- the bittersweet folk-rocker "My Mind's Own," with its woozy reverberating guitar, is the standout. But on the whole it's mediocre kind-of-psychedelia that happens to have a good lead singer, kernels of half-decent ideas sometimes getting overwhelmed by pointless overlong passages within the same track; "Deer in the City" is nearly surreal in its hairpin turns between pastoral folk-psych and melodramatic orchestrated verses. "Peace Comes Slowly to the Thrashing Fish" is a title worth remembering the next time you're trying to cite some of the most absurd song titles of all time, though. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'An Audience with the King of Wands'
Release Date 1/1/1968
Tracks 14
Label Columbia
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Like a lot of folk-pop performers who began their careers in the early-to-mid-'60s, by the late '60s Gale Garnett seemed to have drifted into the rock and psychedelic scene, hooking up with the band the Gentle Reign. Though the music's usually far afield from the supperclub folk-pop she'd often purveyed on her numerous mid-'60s RCA albums, several things remained constant, not all of them positive. One was her lack of focus, the songs flitting all over the place, from the droning raga-rock of "Breaking Through" and the pop-soul of "Fall in Love Again" to the Northern California-flavored folk-rock of "A Word of Advice" and "You Could Have Been Anyone," the orchestrated ballads "Ballad for F. Scott Fitzgerald" and "Believe Me," and the relatively heavy blues of "That's Not the Way." Another was her mediocre songwriting, with Garnett responsible for most of the material, both alone and with occasional assistance from collaborators. Then there was, almost incongruously, her strong low voice, so deserving of better songs to work with -- though as Garnett had written most of these herself, it's not as though some evil major label producer could be blamed for that. If not for that voice, in fact, this LP would be utterly anonymous period late-'60s rock, coming off as both resolutely trendy and unsure of what trend to follow, complete with a few not-strictly-necessary brief link tracks. There's just one really good song here, non-coincidentally a cover (of Fred Neil's "Dolphins"), but even there the ball is dropped, with Garnett ceding the lead vocal chores for just this one track to the far less able pipes of guitarist Bob Ingram. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'My Kind of Folk Songs'
Release Date 1/1/1964
Tracks 17
Label RCA Victor
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Once "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" began climbing up the charts, Gale Garnett had to record her debut album, My Kind of Folk Songs, quite quickly. Considering the pressure on Garnett to deliver a full album, the record works very well, and that shouldn't be too surprising, because the bulk of the record features versions of folk songs that are arranged like her hit. That's not a bad thing at all, because her voice and the arrangements are sweet and alluring. Garnett's original songs are a little uneven, but they have nice, memorable melodies, and they help elevate the record into a truly enjoyable experience. Collectables' 1998 reissue contains five bonus tracks: "Lovin' Place," "St. James Infirmary," "God Bless the Child," "Excuse Me Mister," and "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
