UK band THE CHEMISTRY SET has been a feature of the English music scene since some time back in the 1980’s and they are still going strong several decades later. For the calendar year of 2021 they open their activities with the release of the 7” single “Paint Me a Dream / The Witch” through enthusiast label Hypnotic Bridge Records.

The A side track showcase the band at it’s finest. An open and inviting affair, with vocals on the softer side that adds a nice 60’s vibe to the proceedings, a nifty and effective driving rhythm section and liberal arrays and layers of reverberating, resonating and otherwise distorted guitar effects, mainly in lighter tone registers, offset with firmer chorus sections and a tighter end passage used as the foundation for a fiery, psychedelic guitar solo.

The B side is a cover of a song first released by one Mark Fry back in 1972. The core of this song is a gentler, acoustic guitar driven one, at least initially, but flavoured with layers and layers of keyboard, organ, Mellotron, effects and, increasingly, guitar effects as well. While it opens in a sort of eerie pastoral manner the song concludes on a much more chaotic, noise infested note. Perhaps the most interesting song for die hard fans of psychedelic rock that stress the psychedelic aspect of things, but not quite as appealing as far as my taste in music is concerned.

That being said, this is a fine single indeed. The A side track delivers in spades on what I like psychedelic rock to sound like, and strikes me as a generally open and widely appealing affair. While the B side may be a bit more oriented towards a niche segment of aficionados, it is still a solid and worthwhile creation in this version. If this sounds intriguing and you in addition love old fashioned, 7 inch vinyl singles, this one can rather safely be added to the list of products to desire.

My rating: 90/100

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Track list:
A. Paint Me a Dream
B. The Witch

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Links:
https://www.facebook.com/TheChemistrySetUK/
https://www.hypnoticbridge.com/