Here’s my weekly reminder to listen to Sinking with Sylvia (and Sometimes Todd) on Little Radio Thursday morning from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Tomorrow’s them is Valentine’s Day. Sylvia will be playing all love songs and Todd will be playing all hate songs.
Each week I make a selection on the show and eventually write about it here. On January 24th, my pick was The Dragons’ “Sandman.” The Dragons are yet another “lost” band from the late 1960s. They were an LA band that consisted of the Dragon brothers (Dennis, Doug and Daryl). Recently DJ Food of Ninja Tune contacted Dennis after crate digging and finding a Dragons’ song on an obscure surf soundtrack. DJ Food wanted to license a sample from the song when Dennis informed him that an entire unreleased album from the era existed. DJ Food liked what he heard and decided to issue it last year on Ninja Tune. (Read more about the history of the band in the LA Weekly.)
When the album came out last year I was intrigued, but then promptly forgot about it. Then on the way home from Palm Springs one day, I decided to stop by Rhino Records in Claremont (which, by the way, is a very good record store). Perusing the vinyl, it caught my eye. When I got it home I was very happy with the purchase. The songs are keyboard-driven psychedelic jazz with nice harmonies. They all have weird little unexpected flourishes. NME gave it 8/10 and had this to say about it: "Mad acid-psych jams that freak out like Brian Wilson's bad days in the sand-pit. Your lava lamp has a new best friend." I agree. The Dragons all ended up touring as part of the Beach Boys in the early 1970s and Daryl became the Captain in Captain and Tennille.
A cynic might say that some bits of it come off kind of kitschy, like it could have come from the soundtrack to Hair (I’m paraphrasing some guy on Amazon who actually gave it 5/5). But it’s well produced by Donn Landee and I really enjoy listening to it. It’s the kind of thing you could throw on in the background at a party and also enjoy actively listening to it on your headphones. The first thing you get when you google the album, is some critic at Prefix who gave it a lame 5/10. The same dude gave the Sublime reissue 5.5/10 so I doubt if he’s somebody I’d willingly take music advice from. If somebody made me rate it on that scale, I’d give it a 7.5/10. Pitchfork and most American publications didn’t bother to review it.
Visit the Dragons’ Myspace page for some edited versions of the songs. Make sure you get down to at least “On the Wall” and “Your Way Too” before dismissing it.
See Spin’s little feature on it HERE.
Each week I make a selection on the show and eventually write about it here. On January 24th, my pick was The Dragons’ “Sandman.” The Dragons are yet another “lost” band from the late 1960s. They were an LA band that consisted of the Dragon brothers (Dennis, Doug and Daryl). Recently DJ Food of Ninja Tune contacted Dennis after crate digging and finding a Dragons’ song on an obscure surf soundtrack. DJ Food wanted to license a sample from the song when Dennis informed him that an entire unreleased album from the era existed. DJ Food liked what he heard and decided to issue it last year on Ninja Tune. (Read more about the history of the band in the LA Weekly.)
When the album came out last year I was intrigued, but then promptly forgot about it. Then on the way home from Palm Springs one day, I decided to stop by Rhino Records in Claremont (which, by the way, is a very good record store). Perusing the vinyl, it caught my eye. When I got it home I was very happy with the purchase. The songs are keyboard-driven psychedelic jazz with nice harmonies. They all have weird little unexpected flourishes. NME gave it 8/10 and had this to say about it: "Mad acid-psych jams that freak out like Brian Wilson's bad days in the sand-pit. Your lava lamp has a new best friend." I agree. The Dragons all ended up touring as part of the Beach Boys in the early 1970s and Daryl became the Captain in Captain and Tennille.
A cynic might say that some bits of it come off kind of kitschy, like it could have come from the soundtrack to Hair (I’m paraphrasing some guy on Amazon who actually gave it 5/5). But it’s well produced by Donn Landee and I really enjoy listening to it. It’s the kind of thing you could throw on in the background at a party and also enjoy actively listening to it on your headphones. The first thing you get when you google the album, is some critic at Prefix who gave it a lame 5/10. The same dude gave the Sublime reissue 5.5/10 so I doubt if he’s somebody I’d willingly take music advice from. If somebody made me rate it on that scale, I’d give it a 7.5/10. Pitchfork and most American publications didn’t bother to review it.
Visit the Dragons’ Myspace page for some edited versions of the songs. Make sure you get down to at least “On the Wall” and “Your Way Too” before dismissing it.
See Spin’s little feature on it HERE.
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