These Things Too

About

The post-psychedelic chamber music of Pearls Before Swine was always too exotic for mass consumption. By the time <i>These Things Too</i> appeared in 1969, the group had mostly become a vehicle for singer/songwriter Tom Rapp’s quaint, spiritually tormented verse and melancholy melodies. Fans of Leonard Cohen or <i>John Wesley Harding</i>-period Bob Dylan will find much to like among these tracks. Rapp serves as a counterculture Pied Piper, calling upon lost souls to escape the insanity of the late ‘60s in “Sail Away,” “I’m Going to the City” and the title track. An earnest cover of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” reinforces these pleas for liberation. There are intimations of romance as well, heard in “Look Into Her Eyes” and “Mon Amour.” A wry sort of fatalism colors the countrified “If You Don’t Want To (I Don’t Mind).” Strings, woodwinds, banjos and accordions swirl in and out, bringing out the otherworldly spirit of these songs. Though undeniably excessive and at times inscrutable, <i>These Things Too</i> validates Rapp and company as genuine hippie visionaries.

via Apple Music