from the LP Cottonwood Hill Bellaphon Records, 1970Unfurling like a multicultural happening for psychedelic adventurers, the band Brainticket clearly benefited from having members of so many different backgrounds, with no less than five distinctive nations being represented here (Belgium, Scotland, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland); quite frankly, it’s perfectly apropos when you consider that, back then, a lot of good-hearted folks still believed in the notion of psychedelic drugs actually transforming humanity into a more peaceful and informed state of unified existence. While that utopic vision never fully renovated society’s norms & values, the creative expressions of those caught up in the moment remain for us to examine and enjoy, conceivably with a less serious mindset but no less enjoyable, musically speaking. There are shades of Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and even Soft Machine within this track, and if you can get past the acid-camp images delivered with such dire magnitude by singer Dawn Muir, there’s actually a lot to enjoy here, perhaps most of all the jazzy breaks care of drummer Cosimo Lampis. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
