FADING YELLOW, VOLUME 17: 20 TIMELESS GEMS OF U.S. POP-PSYCH & OTHER DELIGHTS (CD, Flower Machine Records, Sweden, released December 2019)
1 –The Avant-Garde* Yellow Beads
2 –Alan Lorber Congress Alley
3 –The Poppy Family I’ll See You There
4 –J.C. Cole* I Found Me Today
5 –The Rooftop Singers Kites
6 –A Small World I See You
7 –Space Radio Song
8 –James, John & Francois Carolina
9 –The Fifth Estate Love Is All A Game
10 –The Celtics Looking For You
11 –The Hobbits Artificial Face
12 –The Surprise Package The Other Me
13 –The Magpies The Ballad Of Samuel Oscar Beasley
14 –The Looking Glass Love Is Not Everything
15 –The Marshmellow Highway I Don’t Wanna Live This Way
16 –Bucky Wilkin I Wanna Be Free
17 –Sound Carnival I Wish I Could Tell You
18 –The Swiss Movement Inside Of Me
19 –The In-Keepers The Cobwebs Thread Of Autumn
20 –Salt And Pepper In The Morning
I was not aware that Volume 17 of FADING YELLOW had been released until Mike Stax sent out his Excel spreadsheet of who was reviewing what for the next issue of UGLY THINGS, and I saw that someone else was reviewing FY 17 (I reviewed FY 16 for UT in late 2018). Thankfully, Suzy Shaw at Bomp Records was stocking it, and I’ve been playing my newly acquired copy multiple times over the last week. If you’re not familiar with the series, let me quote from the first paragraph of my UT review of FY 16:
Curating compilations is truly a complex art–a quality compiler with a consistent aesthetic and a knowledge of deep tracks that others have overlooked can create a masterwork from songs that, taken individually, might not blow anyone away. Through sixteen volumes, the Fading Yellow (the name taken from a Mike Batt song on the first volume) series has staked out a unique territory–not really psychedelic, though with some trippy elements; not really sunshine pop, though with some elements from that genre too. There tends to be a moody, melancholy feel to the best tracks on these albums, and even when the series moves too far into the 1970’s and some of the pieces sound like groups such as America or England Dan & John Ford Coley, those tracks tend to complement the overall atmosphere of the album and provide a change of pace among the trippier tracks that helps create a varied mosaic of sound that’s instantly recognizable as a Fading Yellow comp. The albums can transport you to a place where you are looking upon a field of flowers illuminated by moonlight at 2 a.m., with a mellow wine buzz….assuming that’s what you want!
Fortunately, Volume 17 DOES NOT veer into the 70’s soft-rock mentioned above–it’s a solid collection of little-known also-ran pop-sike sides from both major labels and small local labels, nicely programmed into a seamless set that will satisify any lover of the SOFT SOUNDS FOR GENTLE PEOPLE compilation series or any listener to Steve Stanley’s NOW SOUNDS internet radio show. Each collector who curates these kind of compilations has a slightly different focus and slightly different taste, so FADING YELLOW is not the same as SOFT SOUNDS. There is less of the kitschy material found on SOFT SOUNDS (though the Alan Lorber track here on FY 17 certainly qualifies), but SOFT SOUNDS would never present some of the 70’s material FY does (for which I’m glad). It’s a trade-up and neither is “better” than the other–best to enjoy both, as so many of the records will be unfamiliar to the majority of listeners. Very little of what’s on FY 17 has been reissued….the amazing snarling 60’s bubble-punk anthem “Artificial Face” from the second LP by Jimmy Curtiss’ THE HOBBITS (the only album track here, I’m the proud owner of a mono copy of the LP, everything else is from 45’s) was re-issued on a Spanish comp named after it, ARTIFICIAL FACES, a number of years ago, but most everything else is not on reissues I own. From the flowers-in-her-hair and yellow love beads San Francisco-from-a-distance as seen by a sensitive-folkie vibe of “Yellow Beads” by The Avant-Garde (of Naturally Stoned fame), featuring Chuck Woolery (of game show and reality show fame), to a single from San Antonio’s THE SWISS MOVEMENT that could give the late 1967 Hollies a run for their money, the album has 20 diverse songs that will evoke patchouli incense, nehru jackets, images of fields of poppies in a psychedlic-tinged 1968 deodorant commercial, and the kind of hippies found in a Dragnet episode or an Up With People rally. The Turtles or the post-Peter Tork Monkees would be proud to claim the majority of the tracks here, unless Orpheus or The Association would be a better fit.
I love these compilations, both as a collector myself (great tracks I’ve never heard) and as someone who enjoys the unique atmosphere these records create. In fact, ATMOSPHERE is the operative word for any FY comp. Each track is atmospheric, and placed alongside 19 other selections, it’s a beautiful juxtaposition of images and moods to take you back to a 1968 or 1970 that never existed, but was a beautiful dream/fantasy for but a brief moment in time. All for the cost of a CD.
If you’re in the US, try Bomp Records mailorder. If you’re in Europe, try some of the local Ebay sites. This is a Swedish release, so finding it in Europe should not be much of a problem. These are limited to 500 copies, so don’t delay….most of the earlier volumes are out of print. Can’t wait for Volume 18. Hope it does not take another two years….