FRONT PAGE REVIEW - Mystic Soldiers (1968 US Rare Psychedelic Rock)

GREAT RARITY, GREAT ALBUM, GREAT BAND, GREAT POISON!! UM GRANDE VENENO PSICODÉLICO!! PSICODELIA COM INFLUÊNCIAS DAS BANDAS CALIFORNIANAS E UMA HARMONIA PERFEITA!! UM VENENO RARO E DE EFEITO GARANTIDO PRA QUEM É DESTA ÁREA MUSICAL!! NÃO CONSUMA COM MODERAÇÃO!! VIVA A SOCIEDADE ALTERNATIVA E A BOA PSICODELIA MACIA DA CALIFORNIA!!

One of the lesser lights of the late-'60s Bosstown Sound, Front Page Review recorded one unissued album in 1968 that was planned for release on MGM, but wouldn't surface until 30 years later. Guitarist and singer Steve Cataldo wrote all of the material for the group, which played minor-league, minor-keyed brooding psychedelia. Like many Boston groups, they were heavy on the weedy electric keyboards, and like most of the Bosstown acts, they didn't offer much in the way of imagination or idiosyncrasy to make them stand out from the psychedelic crowd. After Front Page Review broke up, Cataldo did a solo album for ABC, and then hitched onto the new wave by forming the Nervous Eaters, who made a couple of LPs. Front Page Review's album was finally unearthed for CD release in 1997.

Review by Richie Unterberger

Middling late-'60s psychedelia with some California influences from the likes of the Doors and the Jefferson Airplane. Steve Cataldo had a pretty dark lyrical view, with lyrics that alluded to nuclear war and dead children, but no one was about to confuse him with Jim Morrison. There are some hints of interesting ideas in the periodic unexpected tempo/melodic changes, but this is a pretty meager effort that won't find favor outside of certain hard-bitten psychedelic collectors.

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Front Page Review was a Boston band fronted by Steve Cataldo, which got caught in the crossfire of the so-called "Bosstown Sound" movement of the late 60s. Although they were signed to MGM Records, this album produced by "Bosstown Sound" inventor Alan Lorber, never saw the light of day due to Lorber's other projects at the time, Orpheus and Ultimate Spinach. Upon the demise of Front Page Review, Cataldo was signed to ABC's Probe label and in 1969 under the guise of Saint Steven, released his "Over The Hills" album. He would surface again in the Seventies forming Nervous Eaters which performed in the Boston club circuit, and released a couple of lps.
 

Steve Cataldo - guitar, vocal
David Christiansen - guitar
Richard Bartlett - guitar
Joseph Santangelo - organ, piano
Thomas Belliveau - bass
David Weber - drums

 

1. Prophecies/Morning Blue

2. Prism Fawn

3. One Eyed Minor

4. Feels Like Love

5. Silver Children

6. Valley Of Eyes

7. Without You

8. What Were You Looking For

9. I'm Satisfied

10. For The Best Offer

 

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