Various Artists “Legend City” (Dionysus
Records 2000)

Between the years 1965 and 1967, Loy
Clingman produced a ring of records for bands based in Phoenix, Arizona, and
that’s what “Legend City” focuses on.

Pop aficionados will drool all over their
CD players upon getting an earful of the Wild Flowers, a band that included
future Alice Cooper guitarist and keyboardist Michael Bruce. Songs such as
“More Than Me,” “A Man Like Myself” and “One More Chance” don’t hide the fact
the Wild Flowers were trying their best to imitate the Beatles. Picture perfect
harmonies, glossy textures and intricate hooks envelope these tunes, making
them appear as if they were outtakes from the “Revolver” album.

Grazed with flaming fuzztone fumes, “Top Of
The Morning” by the Hobbit is an equally magnificent track featured on “Legend
City,” while another one of the band’s cuts, “Why Don’t You Grow Up” proves to
be quite esoteric, as it blends purebred country and western cacklings with a
dab of hippy dippy raga rock influences. Captained by stomping rockabilly surf
styled rhythms, “Hi-Fi Baby” from the Door Nobs further weighs in as a mighty
fine number.

Not only is “Legend City” an essential
examination of bands that worked with Loy Clingman, but it also contains songs
that haven’t been dragged through the compilation mill three hundred and
ninety-two times already.

Review made by Beverly Paterson/2013

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