Tyde - Once

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Track And Field
Format: CD

intro

Although only adding tambourine in places, the presence of John ‘Twink’ Alder as a guest was enough to raise interest in this debut from LA’s The Tyde. ‘Twink’ played in the sixties pop-psych group T

Although only adding tambourine in places, the presence of John ‘Twink’ Alder as a guest was enough to raise interest in this debut from LA’s The Tyde. ‘Twink’ played in the sixties pop-psych group The Pretty Things and was very much a part of the British psychedelic scene. The ‘y’ in this band’s name and the sun drenched cover photo give the impression that this record is another attempt at recreating the golden days of sixties psychedelic pop. The whole package shouts, “Cool”! And it is. But The Tyde have not just recreated the sixties here, they have managed to update the music to sound fresh in 2001. Borrowing three members from The Beachwood Sparks, which is enough to justify the interest surrounding this album, there is not a dud track among the nine penned here by guitarist/vocalist Darren Rademaker. Much has been written about the differences between American and British psychedelia. This album is special because although it falls heavily on the side of British psych it avoids the tweeness associated with that genre by adding dashes of West Coast pop. Rademaker’s vocals also set this apart from the usual sixties wannabes. A strange, beguiling mix of early Lou Reed, Lawrence from Felt during their best ('Ballad Of The Band') period and Dylan, it really is the perfect voice to have with these catchy songs, which are full of jangly guitars, warm keyboards and harmonies. It’s strange, and to their credit, that a band who are hailed as sounding like The Byrds, Love and all the other usual suspects don’t actually sound like them. Sure, there are traces of the poppier sounds of, say The Byrds, on show here but did they (apart from their first album) turn out such a consistently good album as this? Memories get blurred over time as to just how good certain records are. We read and get told so many times that “this is a classic and that is the definitive sound of an era” that we believe it. In reality maybe only a few tracks on an album actually sound as we think we they do. Time has convinced us that all the tracks have that magic something or that incredible sound. What The Tyde have done is taken the best bits of the best albums of 1967 and 1968 and made them their own by making them sound fresh today. This is how we think The Byrds and Love always sounded, but they didn’t. It’s the perfect mid to late sixties album we thought we had but didn’t. Until now. It’s hard to choose any one track as a highlight asall nine songs are so good but ‘Strangers Again’ is probably the most immediate although the other eight songs all demand repeat playing as soon as the album has finished. An absolutely outstanding debut full of beautiful songs !

Track Listing:-