UK veterans THE CHEMISTRY SET first appeared sometime around the mid 1980’s, releasing a couple of albums and then more or less disappearing for a couple of decades. A few years after the millennium they reappeared again, and have been an active unit ever since with a good handful of singles, plenty of project contributions and three studio albums to their name following their revival. “The Endless More and More” is their most recent studio effort, and was released by English label Fruits de Mer Records in early 2016, through their sublabel Regal Crabomophone.
As Fruits de Mer is a label known, renowned and focused around psychedelic rock, no one should be surprised about The Chemistry Set being rather safely placed inside this stylistic context, nor that we’re dealing with a band that has a strong affection for yesterdays sounds and music, as well as the ones from before yesterday as well. As far as psychedelic rock goes, this is a band that it is just about impossible to describe without using a word like vintage. They have a bit more about them than merely being a 60’s or 70’s novelty act however, and their scope within the psychedelic realms is actually fairly broad too.
The greater majority of the material does come with at least a few references to 1960’s psychedelic pop and a band like The Beatles, due to light toned, elegant and charming to uplifting arrangements, a generally positive vibe as well as the manner in which the crystal clear lead vocals and vocal harmonies are used. That many of these songs also features sections with a more distinct and untamed psychedelic spirit perhaps an indication that the true references to be used might reside elsewhere of course, and that this is a production that will have the dedicated aficionados scoff and laugh at the clueless critics, but for those that haven’t spent countless hours listening to music from that decade, The Beatles is a reference and association that will come rather automatically I’d suspect.
It doesn’t take all that long before the references starts expanding though. Elements from garage rock and at least to some extent acid rock does appear here and there as this album moves onward, a song like Time to Breathe strikes me as a song that makes me think of Pink Floyd just as much as the aforementioned Fab Four, the curiously named a Cure for the Inflicted Afflicted is more of a 70’s hard rock tinged affair, and there’s even room for a ragtime flavored piano goes country ballad called Crawling Back to You. Towards the end Elapsed Memories adds the spirit and sound of early REM to the proceedings as well, and concluding piece The Open Window a brilliantly seductive psychedelic affair with drones, keyboards, plucked guitars and a more than subtle Raga feel to it, concluding this album on a very high note indeed.
While there is a lot of variation at hand here, and even a couple of exceptions to the norm at times, this is first and foremost an album that should interest those with an affection for vintage psychedelic rock in general, and then perhaps the music made in the period from the mid 60’s to the early 70’s first and foremost. A certain taste for music like The Beatles and The Doors is recommended, but the most important aspect needed to enjoy this album is a firm interest in vintage psychedelic rock. If you regard yourself as being just that, this is an album that has your name on it. Just don’t wait too long, as this label release on limited edition vinyl albums only. When an album is sold out, it will remain so.
My rating: 88/100
