Elephant Mountain

Cool

Darkness, Darkness really promised a lot in the first half of the song that a lot of the album couldn't deliver. Starts off with this very heavy, European-ish folk vibe, but then the vibe changes into a psychedelic feel that I just don't care much for. Really wish the rest of the album sounded like that.

Sunlight is a great little folky track as well, but then it's back to the psychedelic.

Quicksand is also a nice tune, kinda Beach Boys-esque, but again, just wish they kept the dark folk through the whole record. Ends on a bit of a high note in Ride the Wind, with it's California/Hawaiian beach resort vibes.

I don't think they really sound similar, but this reminds me a lot of the Spirit record I got previously. When they're laser focused on a folk sound, they're great. When they're not, it's just doing nothing for me.

I’ve never heard of this band and I like the album cover, but this underwhelmed me. The jazzy parts just weren’t all that interesting. I liked the more psych-rock sections such as Sham. Favorite songs were Don’t Let The Rain Bring You Down and Sham.

I thought this was perfectly fine. I liked some of it, didn't like some of it, found some of it to be compelling and a little bit of it to be annoying. Maybe give it another listen in the future.

Nette Songs mit guten aber manchmal übertriebenem Konzept. Der erste Song ist hörenswert.

Elephant Mountain by The Youngbloods was a completely new listen for me, and I was curious to see what it had to offer.

There were a few moments that stood out—especially the opening track “Darkness, Darkness,” which I really enjoyed, and “On Sir Francis Drake,” which had its own charm. However, the rest of the album felt disjointed and lacking direction. Many tracks came across as odd or meandering, without any real payoff.

Overall, the album doesn’t have any standout tracks or recognizable hits. Most great albums tend to have at least a couple of memorable songs they’re known for, but Elephant Mountain felt mostly forgettable. It left me with a pretty lukewarm impression.

Favorite track: "Darkness, Darkness"
Least favorite: Pretty much the rest of the album
Album artwork: The cover is cool, at least.

I'd never heard of the band or the album before. I wasn't expecting much after reading other reviews. In the end, however, I have to say that I found the album very enjoyable. There were also some really nice parts on it. The whole album was very unexciting, but unfortunately also not thrilling. What did another reviewer write? The album is mediocre even in its mediocrity. 3/5

2.8

Soulful 60s rock. Pretty cool.

Some guy here described it as water flowing on rocks and I like that :)

The jangly bright poppy stuff is pretty annoying in that naive 60s sunshine hippy way, but the spacier jams like the fuzzy 'darkness, darkness' and the jazzy outro to 'Francis Drake' (not the over composed fussy intro) are more exciting. The Motown via garage psych 'Sham' goes hard. You can see how this (the noodly 'Trillium' especially) might've nudged their Marin County comparisons the Dead towards the jazzy Americana they'd get start playing by 1972 when they got a pianist. A pretty mixed album and part of the massive over representation on the list of every niche iteration of the psych-folk continuum of late 60s.

Favorites: darkness darkness, sham

I had heard of The Youngbloods from one song before, and it was their only chart-topping hit "Get Together", a Chet Baker cover. Needless to say, I had almost no expectations going into this album of theirs, and I ended up being neatly surprised.

Elephant Mountain was a nice blend of folk, country rock, and psychedelia. There were a fair amount of decent guitar licks from Lowell Levinger, starting right out of the gate from "Darkness, Darkness" and "Smug" as bonafide rockers. Alongside him was a well-kept rhythm section and Jesse Colin Young's emphatic vocals as he sang with some visual imagery on relationships and life lived. Songs like "Darkness, Darkness", "Sunlight", and "Ride the Wind" work immaculate vibes, aided by solid production from Mr. "Devil Went Down to Georgia" himself, Charlie Daniels.

Honestly, my only complaint is that some of the instrumentals on this album don't offer much meaningful impact. Three are short interludes that don't last a minute and could have been reworked into one pleasant jam. Another is "On Sir Francis Drake" which peters off into the second half and doesn't give that final lasting impression that I would have yearned for in a longer instrumental.

As it is, Elephant Mountain is a solid and at times pleasant outing from a group that I only knew of one hit prior.

While I definitely didn't need to hear this before I die, it did grow on me over multiple listens. My initial reaction was "relatively boring country-rock." Relistens revealed some good soul elements in the songs. Won't seek it out again, but it was ok. Favorite tracks: Beautiful (sort of Black Crowes-ish - yes, I know this was decades before The Black Crowes), Rain Song, Sham. Didn't like Ride the Wind, which felt like I was going to hear "Attention K-Mart shoppers" over the bland elevator music style. A real letdown because Sham was a rollicking track.

This was really vibey. Made my mood better for the day.

Inoffensive but unsubstantial 60’s pop.

3/5

This is fine, unremarkable. As another reviewer put it, this list fucking loves the 60s and puts in here anything that isn't the Beatles from that decade. This album, from any other decade, is a nothingburger.

This sounded more like it was recorded in the 80s or 90s than the 60s. Unusual to find a folk album of that era that isn't cloying or cheesy.

A day isn't really long enough to work out how much you like some albums. Maybe I would give it more given a week or maybe I'd still be thinking you could give its 'obscure US 60s' slot to The Fugs or Pearls Before Swine.

The Youngbloods; maybe they should have chosen a different name for themselves?

In movies, the "youngblood" is always the little upstart who ends up doing great things. This band did not... why?

Of all the albums I've listened to on this list, this is the first one where I was able to play the album back-to-back 3 times in a row, and almost a 4th.
What an absolute gem, for me. Oddly enough, I am not able to whistle or hum a tune of the album by heart, so only for this I am limiting the rating to 4-stars, but it really should be 5!!!

Really chill but so lush. I love the variety of instrumentation. The vocals are super upbeat and pleasant as well. Good relaxation music!