Anyway, this post is about Phluph, a band whose one and only LP is a sort of obsession of mine. I got it many years ago with a clutch of other LPs for nothing. I thought this one was pretty cool because of the green cover and the MONO mix DJ copy. Over the years, I play this with increasing frequency, but I am no closer to finding out anything about this band than I was lo so many years ago......
Here's what I DO know about Phluph - 1) they were from Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2) they unfortunately got lumped in with MGM/Verve Records' ill-fated "Bosstown Sound" marketing campaign of 1968, and 3) there was one guy in the band who wore glasses that were held together with tape - and he wore them on the LP cover.
The band was actually pretty good, for its time. You wanted rock? Covered. Psych? No problem. Folk-rock? Hell, yeah - they even do a Dylan remake on this LP ("It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry"). Problem was, while Phluph did all those things pretty well, they didn't sound any different than a hundred other bands - they had no sound of their own.
But that doesn't mean they didn't make good records. My fave cut on this LP (I really hate the term album - an album is that book that 4 or 5 78rpm records by one artist came in. Peter Goldmark invented the Long Player in 1948 to replace those heavy, bulky albums. But the name stuck, unfortunately.) is "In Her Way". This is great pop-psych, not too mind-blowing, but trippy enough. Unfortunately, the track was all but thrown away on this LP. Verve had high hopes for the opening cut, "Doctor Mind" - seems like every group in the 60s had a song about doctors ("Dr. Robert", "Dr. Stone") or the mind ("Where Is My Mind", "Mirror Of Your Mind"), so how could Phluph miss with "Doctor Mind"?? Unfortunately, the backlash against the "Bosstown Sound" - which was MGM's marketing hype for a bunch of bands from Boston they had recently signed - rendered Phluph unthinkable (and unplayable) to the hippie crowd. The LP and "Doctor Mind" died a chart death. But somebody was playing "In Her Way" from the LP, because it got released as Phluph's second single. It never went past promo pressings, and Phluph never recorded again.
So, no big messages here, no deeply-researched history lesson, just a cool tune from my collection that I wanted to share.
Phluph - In Her Way (Verve V-5054) - 1968
Wow, another "Where is My Mind" other than the Pixies? How many other "Where is My Mind" tracks are there out there? Not exactly what you might think of as a common title.
ReplyDeleteEvan, the "Where Is My Mind" I was thinking of was by Vanilla Fudge - it was one of their first singles, and I'm not sure if it ever came out on any of their LPs.
ReplyDeleteSome one sent me the one and only Phluph LP when I was a teen. I never determined who sent it but I liked it. I waited for another LP but that never happened either. I was thinking about Phluph today and found your comment.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had this album, she lived in Boston before i was born. I found it in her collection when I was a teen. I totally got into it! I started playing drums about the same time and used to get really stoned and play along to it. Phluph holds a special place in my heart. Later I was having a party and pulled out this LP and played it. Most of my friends were like "dude! what is wrong with you", but one lovely lady thought it was cool. I had a great night thanks to Phluph!
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