Rather frustrating, this. The story’s great, after all: Marin County group Pyewacket form in January 1967, performing high-profile support slots in their brief two-year lifespan for the likes of Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, Iron Butterfly and Spirit at iconic venues such as the Fillmore West. A demo album is recorded in the summer of ’67, but the intervening years render it unplayable. In December 2010, guitarist and songwriter John McKindle re-records the songs rather than have them dissolve into nothingness.
So far, so intriguing. The frustration creeps in because McKindle so very nearly pulled off something exemplary. From the pealing and appealing Byrdsian 12-strings and jet-age high harmonies of I Can’t Know Why and The 8th Moon, to the endearing entry-level psych of I Am The Sky and the Citadel-cribbing Reflections In Crystal Springs, it assiduously ticks all of the boxes bar one: the drumming. Fair enough, the album was recorded in a bedroom, but a hissy and regimented Boss DR660 is no substitute for a sweating, swearing tub-thumper, especially when it’s sitting right at the top of the mix. Lovely songs, though. How about re-re-recording them with Luka van de Poel of DeWolff and a Fairchild 660 limiter?
