Under the auspices of Capitol producer (and in this case main songwriter) Lex De Azevedo, The Human Beinz found themselves in front of a hard task to follow, which was their commercially acclaimed, blue eyed garage punk cover of The Isleys’ Nobody But Me, as well as the Japanese No.1 single Turn On Your Love Light.
Now even though their second (and a half if you count the joint debut album with The Mammals) album is being considered a commercial flop, after fourty years, it has grown to become a highly regarded late sixties gem.
Being more versatile then their previous efforts, only two of the apropriately titled Evolutions songs, find them sticking to the tried out upbeat fuzzy garage romp (Every Time Woman, I’ve Got To Keep On Pushing), while the opening The Face, though also retaining some of the fuzz buzz, is actually an orchestrated, semi-acoustic pop number, with the same description (minus the fuzz) being close enough to the Love-ly Cement.
The jazzy vibe of Close Your Eyes doesn’t sound too unlike an imaginary joint “walk on the wild side” by Zombies and Donovan hand in hand, and the pair of My Animal and If You Don’t Mind, Mrs. Applebee, bring to mind Manfred Mann’s Tony Hazzard-written late ‘60s hits, before it all ends with the mind-blowing psychedelic rave-up of the 7 minute instrumental April 15th.
As a bonus, on offer is the band’s final Japanese No.1 single, whose release coincided with one more tour over there in early 1969, comprising of Hold On Baby, which is yet another powered up good time-ish Twist And Shout, originally done by The Isleys, and an equally soulful take on Ray Charles’ This Little Girl Of Mine.
[Released by Fall Out 2006]
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