Speaking from a personal-experience point of view, all it takes is a bunch of art-students, a kaleidoscopic cartoon-like cover art, and a toontownish surname such as Dunsterville, and I’m hooked on ….. without an actual musical reference.
If you add a trippy ‘60s band name like Rainbow Ffolly, it’s clear that you’re about to take a balloon ride across the marmalade skies. As for Rev-Ola’s latest re-issue of the album, an additional dimension is being added through the liners by none other than Brian Hogg, as well as through the usually groovy artwork, featuring some band photos that make you think: “if they sound just half as interesting as they look, I’ll be over the rainbow!” … and above all, they DO sound interesting.
Jumping back’n’forth, from (almost) conventional sounding rubbery Beatle-country of their only single Drive My Car (not a cover!), some folky stuff such as the spiritually wyrd sounding Montgolfier and the Simon & Garfunkel-ing Goodbye, through the jugband-ish vaudeville of I’m So Happy, taking you on a Sopwith Camel ride, to the quirky Britsike-surf (!?) of the opening She’s Alright and the equally funny non-album single side Go Girl, or the Millennium-on-acid vibe of Sun Sing, and occasionally, they let their imagination go even wilder, not unlike the Bonzos or the like.
Given the fact that Rainbow Ffolly hadn’t had the studio time usually given to some of their slightly better known Parlophone labelmates, it might be that this collection of lo-fi dayglo psych could’ve been much more than an obscure piece of the Britsike puzzle.
[Released by Rev-Ola 2005]
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