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| THE WORLD OF OZ-King Croesus/Jack U.S. Deram 45-85034 1969 |
The World of Oz were briefly covered in a previous entry where we discussed their debut 45:
This was their second of 3 singles for the Deram label and today's copy comes from the U.S. (who also issued their debut 45 as well) and like their debut it was produced by the one and only Wayne Bickerton (responsible for a great many Decca/Deram psych productions as well as The Flirtations with fellow former Pete Best Combo member Tony Waddington). "King Croesus" is interesting because it's orchestration (flute, horns and strings) are reminiscent of a mark two Moody Blues album track and the track lacks the pop-psych fairy tale whimsy of it's 45 predecessor which makes it interesting. It's almost soulful in it's delivery and though it took me ages to get my head around I dig it quite a bit nowadays. For my money "Jack", on the opposite side, is where my money's at. It starts off with some wiggy wah-wah guitar and bursts forward into a tightly orchestrated production with some very classy horns and an overall sophisticated feel. It still never ceases to amaze me that labels would put so much into records by band's that had shown zero commercial action in their records and thank goodness for us they did! The horn work on this track is killer and the wah wah guitar brings it back into this cool groove on the fadeout as the band sing a catchy backing chorus sounding very much like fellow pop-psychesters Toby Twirl.
Fortunately both tracks can be found as bonus cuts (along with their other two 45's) on the still in print CD totally legit reissue of their untitled rare as hell untitled 1969 LP!
Hear "King Croesus":
Hear "Jack":
1 comment:
These are great, I'd only really heard "Like a Tear" before.
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