SURPRISE PACKAGE - Surprise Package
Surprise Package hail from the northwest US and started out as The Viceroys, before their record company decided to re-market them under a new name for the psychedelic market. 'New Way Home' shows that the band could pull it off, being a good fuzz guitar and farfisa organ-led rocker, with '100% Vision' and the more adventurous 'Breakaway' following not far behind. 'Supporting Cast' is a loping heavy rocker with a film theme to the lyrics, while 'Social Disease' ends the side with a good-time tune featuring bar-room piano and kazoo - not really in keeping with the rest of the album, but which these American bands of the period seemed to insist on including on their albums. The band's piece de resistance is the side-long title track, which has been compared to Iron Butterfly's 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida', but I think mainly because of its length rather than for the music. It is actually quite a good song, with - at the time - heartfelt lyrics, and the solos are well played, meaning that it doesn't drag for a song of its length. This album is impossibly rare and never turns up for sale at auctions, so while the book price might be a quite reasonable £40 you will have to find one first. Unfortunately not yet re-issued on CD, so your best bet in hearing it is to find someone who owns a taped copy of it, like I had to. If you do that you might just be impressed.