The Projection Company “Give Me Some Lovin'”/Staff
Carpenborg & The Electric Corona “Fantastic Party” (Gear Fab
Records, 1967, 1971/2014)

Both these albums, which have been roped together onto a
single compact disc, were not created by genuine groups per se, but musicians
hitching a ride on the acid rock bandwagon. Seldom were the faces behind the
recordings billed, lending an aura of mystery to the sessions. The era was rife
with exploitation endeavors, ranging from cringe-worthy to superb. Psychedelic
music possesses a variety of ingredients, and these enigmatic figures took full
advantage of the genre by stretching and exaggerating the multiple aspects as
well as adding their own strange and screwy strokes to the canvas.

Originally released on the Custom label in 1967, The
Projection Company’s “Give Me Some Lovin'” is actually a rather
conservative affair for an album of its kind. The title cut is a fine cover of
the Spencer Davis Group’s rousing hit song, while “Uh Uh Uh” and
“I Can’t Stand It Baby” favor a soul code, and an
instrumental,”Kimeaa,” with its slinky sitar-saturated slopes,
appropriates a raga rock stance to appealing effects. Other instrumentals
included on the record are a version of the Id’s bubbly “Boil The
Kettle,” “Our Man Hendrix,” and “Tune Out Of Place.”
Snappy hooks weave in and out of the picture, compounded by reedy keyboards,
swinging rhythms, popping grooves, and fat fuzz chords, resembling a soundtrack
to a cheesy teen flick. Gruff and gritty bluesy country vocals further steer
the point home. Providing just enough tongue-in-cheek impulses to elicit a few
chuckles, “Give Me Some Lovin'” is one of the best albums of its
phony baloney stripe.

Defying time and space to such an extreme extent, Staff
Carpenborg & The Electric Corona’s “Fantastic Party” could have
been recorded yesterday, today, or a decade from now. But the album was
initially issued in 1971, and is so bizarre that it makes Pink Floyd and Frank
Zappa seem mainstream by comparison. The vocals, if you can even call them
that, are crooned, shouted, and warbled in German, so unless you speak the
language, a big question mark will be drawn. Thankfully, the singing on
“Fantastic Party” is minimal, with instrumentals dominating the show,
but please don’t get me wrong, as the disc sports a cool and interesting
quality and will surely receive positive responses from those with a penchant
for quirkiness. The first piece on the album, “All Men Shall Be Brothers
Of Ludwig” kicks off to the booming burr of “A Fifth Of
Beethoven” before melting into a pool of free-form frolic. Casting an
exotic scent, “Let The Thing Comin’ Up” could pass as an early world
beat exercise, and the oddly christened “Shummy Poor Chestnut Idea In
Troody Taprest Noodles” is stamped with lazy humming and trance-inducing
waves of tinny drumming and tuneless fret work. Flooded with stinging fuzz
guitars, “Swing Low, If You Like To Do,” the spooky tremors of
“Stainy Heavy Needles,” and the tribal jazz motifs of “The Every
Days Way Down To The Suburbs” evoke images of fairies and elves operating
in a dimension decorated with flashing strobe lights, curls of smoke, trees
spouting rabbit ears, laughing flowers, soda bottles turning cartwheels, and
dancing ectoplasm. A whistling flute and jagged melodies adorn much of the
material on the album as well. Simply dumbfounding, “Fantastic Party”
is so simultaneously dated and futuristic that it’s brilliant!

Review made by Beverly Paterson/2014

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