"Take my love and shove it up your heart" sing the Blues Magoos in keyboard player/vocalist Ron Scala and bassist Ron Gilbert's composition "Take My Love," and with the same punk drone they give the six minutes of Van Morrison's "Gloria -- a strange amalgam of Iron Butterfly "In a Gadda Da Vida noodlings meets Strawberry Alarm Clock, guitarist Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm, and his Blues Magoos spend an album reiterating what they said before. With the garage mayhem that is "Rush Hour" and the nine second conclusion "That's All Folks," straight out of Bugs Bunny, Electric Comic Book is a vintage '60s psychedelic record which has everything but the ? & the Mysterians meets the Electric Prunes drive of their smash single "We Ain't Got Nothing Yet." Producers Bob Wyld and Art Polhemus are still on board -- they did the previous Psychedelic Lollipop Wyld would remain to direct 1969's Never Goin' Back to Georgia and 1970s Gulf Coast Bound, where the blues replaced the psychedelia Electric Comic Book retains the brash '60s charm their hit single brought to the attention of the world, a track from the Nuggets compilation on the same level of punk majesty as the Seeds "Pushin' Too Hard." While "Pipe Dream," which starts the album off, and "There's a Chance We Can Make It," which follows, don't have hit potential at least the sound that appeals to so many fans of the genre is retained. "Albert Common Is Dead and "Summer Is the Man" aren't earth shattering compositions, and maybe by this time the group started to feel limited by the constraints of psychedelia and pop -- "Baby I Want You" is simple, and not very original -- but that authentic keyboard/guitar '60s sound drips from groove to groove. "Summer Is the Man" was released as a single, followed by "Life Is Just a Cher O'Bowlies" and "Pipe Dream," but what was really needed was another burst of inspiration to put this album in the same league with its predecessor. Still, "Rush Hour" has its insane moments, and this recording will please those who can't get enough of this style of music. All due respect to bands like the Lyres who have spent a lifetime re-creating this sound, there's no point in going there when you can listen to this and hear the real thing. ~ Joe Viglione
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Pop
