Peak Impressions Audio CD – CD, May 30, 2012

Back in 67' you had groups that were the genuine article or just trying to imitate what was going on in pop music culture and even in some areas of the US, it didn't catch on until 2-3 years later, but this is not the case here! A truly unique album from The Freeborne, Peak Impressions is perhaps one of the best psych LP's to come out of the "Bosstown Sound" in Massachusetts. Originally released on Monitor in 1967, this should be known as one of the better releases from that area. These groups got panned by critics and were labeled as San Francisco ripoffs, being that San Fran was the pop music mecca then. All things aside, this stands on it's own as one of the finest offerings, up there with Phluph, Listening & Tangerine Zoo, although not exactly from Boston. This rare album which is difficult to find in original form, contains a psychedelic mix of rock, jazz, some blues & other free-form musical whims which gives a pleasing listening experience. Not a bad track here to be found. "Land of Diana", with nice Farfisa & fuzz guitar, "Yellow Sky", "Peak Impressions" & "Images" drip of acid and are well written and arranged. "Inside People" is a great little tune with the vocals fed through a Leslie speaker, this song is what Buffalo Springfield would sound like if they were more tripped out. Definitely a Top 20 psych album of all time, if not Top 20 of 1967. This copy on Smithsonian Folkways, although pressed on a CD-R, still has excellent sound quality and I cannot imagine it sounding any better, unless re-master guru Bob Irwin took on the project himself. If it sounds dated, good! This music is like a fine 1st growth French Bordeaux. It gets better with age! Enjoy.

Great music

the best album of the bosstown sounds of the 60's

Actually, I would prefer 4 1/2 Stars for this disc, only because it lacks the power of a contemporary sound. The extraordinarily gifted Bob Margolin (just imagine ! ) plays guitar here as a member of this greatly imaginative and creative band on this, their only disc and dated 1967. I hate the word " dated" anymore, altho I do use it in a derogatory fashion in place of the word " passe'. Although this is definitely a relic from the 60's and an obscure band at that - it is still one well worth looking into. There is more going on on this disc than a circus with a barrel full of monkeys as a main attraction at the circus! If you enjoy unearthing rare, overlooked gems from the 60's.....look no further. All the various musicians here have an incredible amount of talent(s). The guitar is great, as are the drums but used sparsely. The arrangements are diverse but well- delineated .well- arranged and obviously rehearsed yet having a spontaneous and feel to them. I took a chance on the more expensive digi- pak with the three bonus tracks, not wanting to miss out on anything, and I'm not disappointed.Each and every track has its own individual character which is refreshing and shows that the musicians know their instruments and how to coalesce nicely. I would have been very pleased to have discovered this band back in 1967, because THEY ARE excellent and much good can be said about this recording. It isn't Cream or Quicksilver Messenger Service by any means, but it does havea stand-alone and stand-up feel and sound to it, in it's entirety. The professionalism is astounding for it's time, including vocals and harmonies, and does hint at the influence of drugs with all the originality and creativity inherent to that era. A superb album ,well- recorded, re- mastered, thoughtfully arramged and available now remastered on cd. Although l didn't discover this group anytime in the 60's it is still an absolute pleasure to discover them now. Sincerely. By Jonathan Still

The Freeborne come as a pleasant surprise to the psych fan who thought he already had everything worth having from the era. Elsewhere, I've read some disparaging remarks about the Freeborne's musical abilities, which drove me to write this review. Far from being musically deficient, these guys are a big step up from the typical psych band of the era. Musically far more talented, their arrangements are also far more elaborate and well thought out, as can be verified by anyone who owns the Heavy Dose of Lite Psych compilation, and compares their song 'Land of Diana' with the rest on that compilation. My only criticism is aimed not at the band but at this CDR format. I recently ripped my entire CD collection to my PC, and from well over a thousand CDs, this was the only CD to give a message of 'blank CD - not rippable', or something to that effect. My laptop (ASUS with Windows 7) could not read this disc, it couldn't even distinguish it from a blank. I had to use some data-reading software that was able to load the songs, and then manually type in the names, etc. But that's no criticism of the band, just the foresight of the (I'm sure well-meaning) Smithsonian Institute. On the other hand, it's good to know that such respectable institutions now see quality 60s psych as being on a par with other music from western history which institutes like the Smithsonian collect, e.g. folk and blues. I should add that the CD plays fine on the stereo though, it's only a problem on the PC, and the sound quality is excellent.

Listening to this record is like eating a box of Lindt continental chocolates and drinking a bottle of Southern Comfort; self-indulgent bliss! It is very much a period piece and product of its time; pretentious and dated, but all the better for that.If you are a connoisseur of obscure psychedelia, then this album is an ABSOLUTE MUST!

An early psyche record with all the naive but whimsical affectations that come with a band struggling to ape their larger and more successful influences. There is a very clear echo of early Country Joe and the Fish, both in the vocal and organ sound, and there is also Jefferson Airplane, some Doors and Beatles - hard not to; also the occasional overuse of recorder which is a little twee, but that too has its endearing appeal when it comes to enjoying such experimental blasts from the past. Just two examples give a far-out flavour: 'A New Song For Orestes' is suitably pretentious as a title, and the use of harpsichord, chamber strings, rousing horn, fuzzed guitar, choric vocals with some distortion effects, and spoken vocal are consummately the hallucinogenic ingredients of its colourful time; 'Peak Impressions & Thoughts' is a classic example of a tripped-out musical journey and it must have been a thrill to create and imagine hopefully that this was the sound to propel them into the psychedelic club's swirling limelight. It didn't, and this is the sole record from this fleeting but fun tab on the aural tongue.