Elephant Mountain

-there's probably 1001 better albums from 1969 alone. This album has had zero cultural imprint, nothing from this album left a widespread popular impression on anyone, and no one in the underground or on the fringes was significantly inspired by this music. This is the 3rd album from a one hit wonder who didn't even write their own hit. Should not be included on this list.

-this album surprised me. Surprised me in how strongly I disliked it. Occasionally I would hear a few measures of music that sounded OK, and each time the song was quickly interrupted by something really dull, silly, hackneyed, or contrived. I can't reasonably recommend a single song on this album.

-how many albums from this era are described as "bridging the gap between psychedelic rock and folk/country"? This is probably the worst, most inessential example of that style.

-the singer is as square as they come. Leaves a bitter, plastic taste in my mouth.

-the "jazz" songs on this album are some of the most grooveless pap I've ever heard.

-in between the bad, unmemorable songs is a lot of *trippy* / *quirky* filler nonsense I think is designed to sound like this band had a lot of high concept "experimental" ideas, but actually makes it sound like they were given too much money by their record label.

It's a blisteringly cold day here in central Europe, and lyrics like "like the sunshine warms the sands" make me yearn for this nasty winter to be over even more. Listening to this record, it’s hard not to drift off to warmer places. This would make a fine recommendation for listeners who are just beginning to explore the psychedelic folk sounds of the late 1960s and who have already worked their way through the classics. Songs like “Sunlight” and “Double Sunlight” sound like California set to music, all sun-bleached harmonies and gentle, drifting melodies (you can really tell that the band relocated from New York to California prior to the recording sessions). But even though the songwriting and the instrumentation are versatile, not many songs here truly stick with me. It is a record for connoisseurs who enjoy digging a little deeper, yet still a pleasant listen for everyone else — an album with few peaks and virtually no lows.

Not too bad, does feel a little long however.

Good vibes. And I struck up a conversation with the man behind me at the grocery store who asked me what I was listening to and he remembered the Youngbloods from back in the day. Then he told me a story about how he almost took the Dave Clark Five out water skiing on Lake Mendota but had to go to a bugle corps rehearsal instead. Don't worry about the Dave Clark five though...they still got to go water skiing with this man's friend. Anyway, good times.

Woah, that is. Wow. I wanna go back to it already.

Given my general aversion to late sixties psych rock, I was surprised by how listenable I found this. It's not bad at all. A reasonably solid three.

A soothing combination of jazzy folk-rock

Very nice jazzy, folky thing!

I truly enjoyed this, but there's not one individual track that I would think stands out. Not entirely sure what genre(s) this would be classified as, but everything works.

Eclectic. A bit rocky, a bit folky, a bit psychedelic, a bit county. A pleasant listen. I guess they were one of those 'unknown' bands that never made it for whatever reason. Sad.

Great musicality on this record. The guys are clearly very talented, and they have the songwriting capabilities to match their chops. There's barely any folk or country on this record (a good thing), so I could see how some listeners may feel misled or be expecting something different given the tags, which may be why this doesn't have a higher rating. The truth is that this is an exceptionable jazz/psych rock record with an incredible sense of melody and rhythm.

4.5/5.0: Excellent

a little dull at times but a pretty good album for the folk rock genre. really enjoyed the instrumental songs and a bit of a detour to a more jazzy sound.

Wait? Did I actually listen to this yesterday or not?

Man, I really liked the opening track Darkness, Darkness. The rest didn't quite live up to that opening, but it was still pretty decent.

I had never heard this before. I don't plan on hearing it again.

Fun listen. They sound quite far removed from the Greenwich village scene they were originally from. Their sound is folky, but also clearly inspired by Jazz and Psychedelic music. I liked the improv's throughout this album. Generally well made and fun to listen to, the Byrds if they were a jam band.

A weird one to rate really

It was pleasant and I enjoyed it. But it was also pretty boring and was just background noise

Not sure how it can be both, but somehow it is

3 ⭐️

That was fine, not remarkable.

This is a nice one! And it stands out for having a good amount of variance in styles and approaches, and all done pretty well.

3.5 rounded down.

Completely average