Pearls Before Swine's tenure on Reprise is recalled on Constructive Melancholy, a generous 26-track collection that distills the highlights from the seven LPs the group released on the label between 1969 and 1973. Though their two previous efforts for ESP-Disk -- One Nation Underground and Balaklava -- remain Tom Rapp's most perfectly realized records, there are fleeting moments of brilliance on each Pearls Before Swine album, and Constructive Melancholy does an excellent job in isolating these peaks; concentrating largely ...
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Pearls Before Swine's tenure on Reprise is recalled on Constructive Melancholy, a generous 26-track collection that distills the highlights from the seven LPs the group released on the label between 1969 and 1973. Though their two previous efforts for ESP-Disk -- One Nation Underground and Balaklava -- remain Tom Rapp's most perfectly realized records, there are fleeting moments of brilliance on each Pearls Before Swine album, and Constructive Melancholy does an excellent job in isolating these peaks; concentrating largely on 1969's These Things Too and 1970's The Use of Ashes, the set features Rapp favorites like "Sail Away," "Look into Her Eyes," "The Jeweller," "Rocket Man" and "Snow Queen" in addition to new recordings of the classics "Translucent Carriages" and "Another Time." (There's even an all-new Rapp tune, "Blind.") A solid introduction to one of the most innovative and under-recognized bands of the psychedelic era. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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