Day Blindness - Day Blindness 1969 (FULL ALBUM) [Hard Rock Acid Rock Psychedelic]
Hard Rock Acid Rock Psychedelic 1969 USA
Tracklist:
01. Still Life Girl 6:23
02. Jazz Song 2:20
03. Middle Class Lament 3:39
04. I Got No Money 4:31
05. House and a Dog 2:01
06. Live Deep 2:48
07. Young Girl Blues 4:22
08. Holy Land 12:22
Review
by Stanton Swihart
A typical description of Day Blindness involves references to the theoretically similar but inherently antithetical West Coast bands the Doors and Iron Butterfly, and it does in fact play something like a cross between those two groups, though with none of the musical nuance and aesthetic vision -- and none of the existential considerations -- of the former and with all the unrelenting bombast and sonic pretension of the latter. What it does have in common with the Doors is its organ-heavy, acid-touched moodiness and its dense blues underpinning, though it is unable to do anything significantly innovative with either element. And like Iron Butterfly, Day Blindness draped their music in a sometimes smothering, cerebrum-numbing blanket of quasi-metal guitar. The band, indeed, took their hard rock very seriously, and that leads to a good number of earnestly overblown moments. It also causes the nearly 40 minutes of music to drag as a whole and to dull one's appreciation for their more enticing aspects. And such aspects, though few, do indeed exist here. \"I Got No Money\" and \"House and a Dog\" aren't songs so much as chances to jam on blues changes, but each has some commanding moments. And the 12-minute \"Holy Land\" is less atmospheric or disorienting than \"The End\" (seemingly its model), but it has some worth nonetheless, though in a vaguely ham-handed way. This band must have undoubtedly provoked some gut-thumping excitement for their live audience, blasting from ballrooms with an accompanying swirl of smoke and a kinetic surreality. The fact that it has been bootlegged attests to the fascination it still elicits. The album has not, unfortunately, worn particularly well (though considerably better than \"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida\"). Still, it provides an interesting glimpse into the heavier, more straight-ahead side of San Francisco acid rock.
