The Aquarian Age
10000 words in a cardboard box

THE REVIEW

Mr. Twink is a gentleman, always inspired by the sun.

And Mr. Junior? Well, he's a gentleman too. Joe Boyd, in his book “The White Bicycles” describes him in a few enlightening strokes.

He was one, he says, “with crazy eyes” (yes, and then?) “and a I-don’t-give-a-damn look” (ah, ok).

And, rest assured, I quoted literally.

And anyway, watch out for those white bicycles... because the white bicycles are the ones from Holland, that is, those of the Provos, one of the first protest movements of the sixties.

But didn’t a little song come to your mind by any chance?

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“My white Bicycle” (acid sound, great drive, killer guitar riffs, and reversed tapes) was, together with “See Emily Play” by the Floyd, the great psychedelic anthem of '67.

A bit less transcendence than Barrett, a bit more excitement, or perhaps (okay) equal excitement.

If you haven’t listened to it yet, do so, I really think you won’t stay still (medicine for the body). And I also think it will make your head spin a little (medicine for the mind).

Usually, from the Tomorrow, only this song is remembered, but nothing is more unjust, since their first and only album is one of those that leaves you breathless.

Well, from the Tomorrow, Mr. Twink (drummer) and Mr. Junior (bassist) were the rhythm machine.

And the two, who got along well together, embodied the most spontaneous and irreverent side of the group.

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Once Tomorrow split, Twink and Junior gave life to the Aquarian Age project.

Just one forty-five to their credit (but what a forty-five!) and many ideas that eventually ended up in the drummer’s only solo album, that “Think Pink” which, between quirks and spontaneity, is one of the most striking examples of freak‘n’roll ever.

A close relative of the most cosmic and crazy Germans, think of it. Or a Julian Cope-like dream.

A mystical, tribal, childlike dream, with hard veins here and there that are perfectly fitting...

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But let’s get to “Ten thousand words in a cardboard box.”

The forty-five version is not the only version of the track. There is another one precisely in “Think Pink.”

And the two versions are very different... like day and night, really...

The “Think Pink” one is a sort of detuned psychedelic blues, with a treated and hyper-acid voice, emphatic female ohhhh ohhhhs, and a sci-fi hard guitar.

And the forty-five one?

Well, I confess, I have some trouble describing it to you...

What can I say?

A crazy saraband of sounds? Okay...

An exciting thing? Okay....

Violins and an unexpected orchestral flavor? Okay...

Fabulous female voices coming in and out? Okay...

Almost Middle Eastern echoes? Okay...

Reversed tapes? Okay.

Two opposite worlds then, the blues ballad, albeit greatly distorted, on one side, the organized delirium on the other.

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According to Federico Ferrari (who provided us psycho-Italians with the mapping of ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of the colorful Albion groups of that time) the Aquarian Age track could be, between the lines, a tribute to the disarrayed orchestra of the famous Sergeant Pepper finale.

And, according to him, the two different versions of the track would show the transition from psychedelia (naive and innocent) to the underground (more aware and mature).

And who am I to question such wisdom?

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Having said that the Aquarian Age version is rather fun and even danceable, I think it’s useful to quote some passages of the admirable visionary text:

“Ten tin soldiers camouflaging/ with three lunatics waiting for the full moon/the dogs and the hunters chased by the fox/ ten thousand words in a cardboard box”

And again:

“Undertakes a new journey from his own illusion/ not knowing where the next thought will take him.

Very sixties, right?

Ah, to finish: the B side of the forty-five is titled “The Good Wizard meets the Disobedient Wizard”

It’s quite a good title.

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The Aquarian Age project lasts only for a moment...

Then Twink joins the Pretty Things, releases the solo album, goes to Morocco, tries to form a group with Syd Barrett (!!!!!!!!!!) and in '77 starts doing punk...

The latest news has him converted to Islam and co-authoring an album with the Italian psyche group Technicolor Dream.

As for his mate Junior Wood, I really don’t know what happened to him.

Aloha...

Ps Praise to Mark Wirtz, the gray eminence of the Tomorrow sound and also of this record...