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The Electric Prunes are an early California band that passed like a meteor during the formative years of rock history in its psychedelia-West Coast form. The thing for which they are still remembered today is an extraordinary rock version of the Catholic mass that was released in 1968 (some say late 1967) under the title "Mass in F Minor" and provided a track, "Kyrie Eleison," to the soundtrack of the film "Easy Rider".
Formed in Seattle but discovered in Los Angeles by producer Dave Hassinger, who rebuilt their artistic personality by introducing them to the sound effects of the time, the Electric Prunes debuted in 1966 with a classic of psychedelic music, the 45 rpm "I Had Too Much To Dream," a miniature melodic fantasy, with a petulant falsetto and a wildly distorted and reverberated guitar. The first two albums, Electric Prunes (Reprise, 1967) and Underground (Reprise, 1967), reissued as Electric Prunes/Underground (Head), were naive but roaring, in the style of fellow citizens Seeds, arranged in a more bizarre way (even using early electronic effects).
The Los Angeles band is characterized by a rather acid sound on which the harmonica often rides and the guitars roam, somewhat reminiscent of the early Quicksilver, though without the instrumental virtuosity and the ability, typical of John Cipollina's band, to enormously expand the themes addressed.
At the end of 1967, the Prunes set off on a tour to Sweden and Hassinger inexplicably creates another eponymous group that releases the already mentioned great and controversial "Mass In F Minor"; this work would be the first of many sacrilegious contaminations between the sacred and the profane (what's more profane than rock??).
The album is strictly psychedelic and represents an exceptional testimony of the creative trends surrounding the "Summer of Love" phenomenon, which was fading away at the time (late 1967 early 1968). Mass In F Minor is remarkable not only for being a prehistoric rock opera, albeit religious, but also for the "naive" charm of the fusion experiment of different genres, for a compositional maturity that already belongs to the following era. The credit goes to arranger David Axelrod, recruited by Hassinger, who also directed and produced the following album.
In reality, only the singing is that austere and solemn of religious ceremonies, while at the forefront are the psychedelic reverbs of the electric guitar and the disorienting vibratos of a street organ. Throughout the six movements, one can find learned cues, like the crescendo bass solo in "Gloria" (best track) or the hypnotic Indian arpeggios of electric viola in "Agnus Dei". The most infectious hymns are those of the "Credo," which has the most exciting chorus and the most reckless bacchanal, and the "Benedictus," with its vaguely Hare Krishna tones and jazzy cadences.
An indelible work for various reasons: for its originality (I link back to the forum question about which albums have marked the history of rock in general... this is certainly one of them), for its aura of mystery related to what I mentioned earlier about the legend of the non-original lineup (it doesn't really matter who actually recorded it... it is presumed to be session men), for the sounds (lovers of the Doors... listen), for the "smell of incense" coming from the CD player (what have I smoked??)... in short, for everything.
That said, it can't help but deserve 5 stars... the "The" Electric Prunes (referring to k... the "the" meant something in 1968... not like now... it's true... I agree) shock us... hypnotize us, capture us.
Brave "Electric Prunes".
LANDMARK.
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