❉ James R Turner swirls and twirls with Andrew Gold’s well-crafted tribute to the sound of his youth.
“Conceptually, musically and visually this works so well as a complete package and really highlights Andrew Gold’s musical vision, with a wonderful nod to his influences, whilst pulling together a strong album in its own right.”
Following on from Esoteric’s epic Andrew Gold box Lonely Boy – The Asylum Years Anthology comes a CD and vinyl reissue of the classic rock singer/songwriter/producer/guitarist‘s homage to the psychedelic sixties, The Fraternal Order Of The All (subtitled Greetings From Planet Love), originally released back in 1997.
Concocting a fictitious band (complete with humorous backstory) – the titular Fraternal Order of the All – the late Gold put all his musicianship and studio craft into this album, writing and performing all the tracks himself. Aided and abetted by guests such as Jimmy Caprio, Jimmy Herter and Gold’s Wax comrade Graham Gouldman, Gold skilfully shaped a double album’s worth (in old money) of songs and instrumentals beautifully evoking the West Coast-inspired sounds of the Summer of Love.
In a similar spirit and feeling to Neil Innes’ Rutles creation, Gold’s innate musical sensibilities saw him paying tribute to the bands of the era while at the same time making it sound authentic, original and a lot of fun, rather than mere pastiche. Wearing different musical hats he was able to cross bands, sounds, and sub-genres within psychedelia, from the opening Greetings from Planet Love (which segues beautifully into the Beatle-esque Rainbow People) to the playful use of backwards masking on the closing Tomorrow Drop Dead (calling to mind the fab four’s Tomorrow Never Knows), by way of the Byrds’ folk psych and the multi-tracked harmonies of the Beach Boys, and there’s even room for a homage to The Doors on the Morrison-esque Ride the Snake.
From start to finish, the album does not let up, with some wonderful instrumental passages like Swirl and Twirl linking the tracks beautifully. Displaying his sense of fun, Gold plays a mean Dylan pastiche on the brilliantly caustic Mr. Plastic Business Man (with a wonderfully Lennon-esque counter-chorus to mix and match the inspirations). Elsewhere, King of Showbiz is the closest to the real Andrew Gold we’re going to get here, and fits nicely into the theme and sound of the album, taking nothing away from the overall concept.
Flipping between sonic tricks, expertly observed lyrics and a wide musical palette, Gold’s obvious love of classic psych songwriting is evident on the twenty tracks of this collection, and his own musical skills take this from a fun idea into a serious musical trip.
Conceptually, musically and visually this works so well as a complete package and really highlights Andrew’s musical vision, with a wonderful nod to his influences, whilst pulling together a strong album in its own right. With some stand out tracks, this is not a throwaway bit of fun, but a well crafted intelligent tribute to the sound of his youth.
This is the perfect summer record, evoking the psychedelic era and, as another semi-fictitious band from the Summer of Love promised, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
❉ Andrew Gold: ‘The Fraternal Order Of The All – Greetings From Planet Love’ (Esoteric Recordings ECLEC2758) released 28 July 2023 by Cherry Red Group, RRP £12.99. Cherry Red Records have been releasing and reissuing the most innovative and independent thinking music since 1978. Follow them on Twitter or visit their site.
❉ James R. Turner is a music and media journalist. Over the last 25 years he has contributed to the Classic Rock Society magazine, BBC online, Albion Online, The Digital Fix, DPRP, Progarchy, ProgRadar and more. James lives in North Somerset with his fiancee Charlotte, their Westie Dilys & Ridgeback Freja, three cats and too many CDs, records & Blu-Rays.
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