'60s Psychedelic/Baroque Pop: John Bromley - Songs 1969 (2009 Rev-Ola)

Listen to this track by British songwriter and lost Macca-esque psychedelia creator John Bromley. It’s “So Many Things”, a 1969 song as taken from his sole album Sing. On that album, and on this song, he is backed by The Fleur De Lys, his labelmates at the time. That band in turn was something of a rearguard to the British Invasion, launching in 1964, but never quite reaching the heights of their fellow beat combos who’d made the trip across the Atlantic.

The Fleur De Lys had trolled the edges of the ’60s rock scene, with touches from Chas Chandler, Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records, and Jimmy Page who had produced one of their singles, “Moondreams”. As you can hear, their sound had morphed into a classic Beatlesque stew with not just a few Who references, with the band having once recorded Pete Townshend’s “Circles” in 1966.

Bromley was primarily a songwriter, penning tunes for singer Jackie DeShannon. By the end of the decade, he was encouraged by Polydor to collect some of his singles together, including this one, for a full length album – Sing.  Appropriately, it’s Bromley’s voice that stands out here, with lyrics that touch on a very important ingredient to be found on a certain kind of psychedelia that was in it’s last phase by the time this song had been recorded.

This song is rich with contrast, between the clanging guitar and the sweetness of the strings. You can practically hear the kaleidoscopic colours in this tune, as should be expected in a psych tune. The key ingredient here is the childlike nostalgia that this song evokes, lyrically speaking. For me, that’s what makes this something of a lost British psychedelic classic. It rings with hazy reminiscence that can be found in the best of the genre.(thedeletebin)

The writer of the lines above describes a song, but he gives the feeling very well that Bromley's music was in the sixties. On 'Songs' you can find the complete 'Sing' album and a number of songs that are in no way inferior to the album. Who doesn't know the album, here is the opportunity to listen to it. Enjoy.(Frank)
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