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Rating: The 1960s witnessed the formation of dozens and dozens of garage-rock bands, living just long enough to release one record, perhaps even just one hit. Meteors that lived only for a single season.
The music industry, thanks to TV and radio, was exploding in all its clamor just like the psychedelic wave and the underground culture, both in the United States and in Great Britain.
Precisely in the second half of the '60s, in California, thanks to Sean Bonniwell, a talented guitarist-singer native of San José, the Music Machine was born. A meteor indeed, but a very bright one.
In some ways, the response from the east to what was happening in New York at the Warhol Factory with Lou Reed and company... and believe me, I'm not exaggerating, just listen to them and see them on the cover of "(Turn On) The Music Machine", the band's first and only record.
A dark look, all dressed in black, regulation bob, with a leather glove on the right hand, the one with which they played.
A sensational record, truly a little gem, which over the years has become a true cult. Bonniwell's intense voice, the deus ex machina of the group, when it stands out against the hammering riffs, is capable of fierce, pressing, and violent overtures, as in the psychotic single "Talk Talk", with "beefheartian" echoes, "Wrong", "Trouble", and "Double Yellow Line", but also incredibly romantic moments, slower and more melodic, like "Cherry Cherry", a carefree version of Neil Diamond's cover, the hypnotic "Some Other Drum" or the acidic version of "Hey Joe".
Indeed, the album features several covers, a common practice at that time, obviously to attract potential buyers' attention, but, believe me, the version of "Taxman" by the Beatles is almost better than the original by the Fab Four, if possible.
The band, in some ways a precursor of a certain attitude and of a distinctly punk sound, unfortunately, lasted only as long as one album, due to wrong choices and internal misunderstandings within the group.
Who knows where they could have reached.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Talk Talk (01:58)
I got me a complication
And it's an only child
Concernin' my reputation
As something more than wild
I know it serves me right
But I can't sleep at night
Have to hide my face
Or go some other play-ay-ay-ay-ay-ace
I won't cry out for justice
Admit that I was wrong
I'll stay in hibernation
'Til the talk subsides to gone
My social life's a dud
My name is really mud
I'm up to here in lies
Guess I'm down to size
To size
Can't seem to talk about
The things that bother me
Seems to be
What everybody has
Against me
Oh, oh, all right
Here's the situation
And how it really stands
I'm out of circulation
I've all but washed my hands
My social life's a dud
My name is really mud
I'm up to here in lies
Guess I'm down to size
To size
Talk talk Talk talk Talk talk Talk talk
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