BLUES MAGOOS: "Electric Comic Book"

Original released on LP Mercury MG 21104

(US, 1967)

The Blues Magoos' first album, "Psychedelic Lollipop", earned the band a major hit single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," and in the grand tradition of striking while the iron was hot, the New York-based quintet were back with their second LP, 1967's "Electric Comic Book", less than five months later. The sophomore effort is a noticeably more ambitious piece of work than the Magoos' debut, and while psychedelia was a catchphrase more than anything else on the first record, "Electric Comic Book" sounds trippier and a bit more expansive by comparison (the goofy "Intermission" tosses in some fairly obvious marijuana and cocaine references which would have been almost unthinkable in 1966, and the drug angle in "Pipe Dream" isn't exactly subtle). In addition, a few months of playing live had tightened up a combo who already sounded pretty good together, as well as bolstering the confidence in Ralph Scala's vocals and keyboard work and the fuzzy interplay of guitarists Mike Esposito and Emil 'Peppy' Thielhelm. However, the blues and R&B elements that were a large part of "Psychedelic Lollipop"'s strength have faded into the background here (except for a overdone cover of Jimmy Reed's "Let's Get Together"), and though the band could come up with a respectable pop tune, "Baby, I Want You" and "Take My Love" sound like throw-aways that were tossed together quickly to fill out a record not quite 30 minutes long (though "Take My Love" does have the very memorable line 'Take my love and shove it up your heart'). "Psychedelic Lollipop" is well short of a classic, but overall it's a stronger and more coherent set of songs than "Electric Comic Book", which sounds like the quickly recorded follow-up that it truly was, though it does have moments that suggest the band could have made another album as good as the debut with a bit more time and attention. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

BLUES MAGOOS Debut Album

Original released on LP Mercury SR 61096

(US, November 1966)

The Blues Magoos sound less like psychedelic visionaries than a solid garage band with a taste for the blues on their debut album, "Psychedelic Lollipop", though the lysergic reference of the title certainly put them ahead of the curve in 1966, when LSD was still obscure enough to be legal in much of the United States. The album leads off with the group's first and only major hit single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet," and unlike most albums released by one-hit wonders of the mid-'60s, the single isn't the most exciting song here. That honor goes to the Magoos' cover of J.D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" (which Lenny Kaye selected for his iconic garage rock compilation Nuggets), featuring some gutsy guitar work from Mike Esposito and Emil "Peppy" Thielhelm and impressive organ swells from Ralph Scala as the tune leans into a major rave-up midway through. Outside of that, "Psychedelic Lollipop" rarely sounds like a classic, but it's solid stuff - the covers are chosen and played well (including a committed take on James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy"), the originals show the band knew their way around rock & roll, R&B, and blues with no small aplomb, and the band could stretch out on numbers like "Sometimes I Think About," "Worried Life Blues," and "Tobacco Road", while generating excitement and not losing the plot. "Psychedelic Lollipop" doesn't sound like the work of a great band, but certainly like one who were better than average, and considering how many bands who cranked out a single like "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" ended up making albums clogged with filler, it says a lot that even the weakest tracks here show this group had talent, ideas, and the know-how to make them work in the studio. 

(Mark Deming in AllMusic)