The George Edwards Group "Nevada"1977 US Psych Rock
The George-Edwards Group " Archives" 1977 Detroit Private in original pressed 100 copies.
When you take away the allure of rarity, a lot of collector-psych turns out to be pretty thin gruel, The George-Edwards Group’s 38:38 was an exception; it was tuneful, tweaked, and totally out of step with both its originating milieu (‘70s Detroit) and any other time/location you can name. The fact that it was originally pressed privately in a run of 100 might have added mystique, but it didn’t really matter. After GZD/DC’s resurrected 38:38 blew threw a couple of pressings in 2009, Ed Balian and Ray George found enough tape reels in the cupboard to put together another LP. Side one matches its predecessor’s underfed but accomplished tunesmithery and beats it for sheer oddity. Keep in mind that these guys weren’t learning their weirdness from LPs with JEM Imports stickers permanently affixed to the front and pictures of hairy Germans on the back; psychedelic Beatles and Pink Floyd was about as far out as their personal collections got. So the playful oddity of “Once Upon a Mood,” with its muscular yet jangly guitar and synth hijacked from ELP’s “Lucky Man,” the kill-you-with-my-raygun malevolence of “You’re Gone,” and the chopped-tape salad of “Walrus Waltz” spring from some inner frequency that no other earthly antenna could pull. In the wrong hands “Shattered Heart” could have been a big, ugly AOR rave-up, but the slightly imprecise tempos and unfeigned earnestness of the delivery keep it winningly human. But flip the record over and it’s another, much sadder story. Sandwiched in between a couple short but nifty synth instrumentals are some sub-Todd Rundgren ballads so dreadfully corny and stultifyingly wrong that the part where the duo sings “Oh Baby” is as good as it gets. Just remember that the same record that gave us “Revolution #9” and “Yer Blues” also gave us “Rocky Raccoon,” and keep playing side one. The sleeve and pressing are a bit nicer than they would have been if George-Edwards had pressed this thing up in ’85, but that’s quite all right with me.
(Bill Meyer)..
When you take away the allure of rarity, a lot of collector-psych turns out to be pretty thin gruel, The George-Edwards Group’s 38:38 was an exception; it was tuneful, tweaked, and totally out of step with both its originating milieu (‘70s Detroit) and any other time/location you can name. The fact that it was originally pressed privately in a run of 100 might have added mystique, but it didn’t really matter. After GZD/DC’s resurrected 38:38 blew threw a couple of pressings in 2009, Ed Balian and Ray George found enough tape reels in the cupboard to put together another LP. Side one matches its predecessor’s underfed but accomplished tunesmithery and beats it for sheer oddity. Keep in mind that these guys weren’t learning their weirdness from LPs with JEM Imports stickers permanently affixed to the front and pictures of hairy Germans on the back; psychedelic Beatles and Pink Floyd was about as far out as their personal collections got. So the playful oddity of “Once Upon a Mood,” with its muscular yet jangly guitar and synth hijacked from ELP’s “Lucky Man,” the kill-you-with-my-raygun malevolence of “You’re Gone,” and the chopped-tape salad of “Walrus Waltz” spring from some inner frequency that no other earthly antenna could pull. In the wrong hands “Shattered Heart” could have been a big, ugly AOR rave-up, but the slightly imprecise tempos and unfeigned earnestness of the delivery keep it winningly human. But flip the record over and it’s another, much sadder story. Sandwiched in between a couple short but nifty synth instrumentals are some sub-Todd Rundgren ballads so dreadfully corny and stultifyingly wrong that the part where the duo sings “Oh Baby” is as good as it gets. Just remember that the same record that gave us “Revolution #9” and “Yer Blues” also gave us “Rocky Raccoon,” and keep playing side one. The sleeve and pressing are a bit nicer than they would have been if George-Edwards had pressed this thing up in ’85, but that’s quite all right with me.
(Bill Meyer)..