Blossom Toes - If Only For A Moment

Following the release of their debut album and a couple of singles, Blossom Toes headed back into the studio to record the follow-up, If Only For A Moment.  At this point drummer Kevin Westlake had been replaced by John “Poli” Palmer, who played on some of the single tracks and one song on the album before being replaced by Barry Reeves.  While their debut has now become known as a psychedelic classic, the band said the orchestration with all the strings and horns performed by outside musicians wasn’t really representative of them.  Therefore when they went into the studio to record the follow up, all of those elements were gone and the resulting album was like night and day compared to the debut, and while it’s not necessarily a prog album, there are a lot of prog like dynamics to most of the songs. Esoteric Recordings has followed up their recent box set of their debut with this outstanding three CD box set, which includes a remastered version of the album and twenty bonus tracks. 

It’s apparent right from the opening strains of the album that things are different here.  “Peace Loving Man” starts off with heavy, downturned guitars and Brian Belshaw’s deep, guttural vocals sounding a lot like Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”, but with upbeat, almost pop choruses and then evolving into an acid rock ending.   After a bluesy Allman Brothers like intro “Kiss Of Confusion” shifts into a very dynamic prog styled rock tune, speeding up and slowing down and even including a little Santana like groove in the percussion.  “Listen To The Silence”, to me the album standout (but in an album that doesn’t have a bad track), opens with an extremely catchy bluesy, funk groove before completely shifting into a slow, dreamy, psychedelic section that evolves into an acid rock jam and then comes full circle back to the opening groove.  Next up is “Love Bomb”, a slow burning psychedelic rocker with a really nice blues groove.   A lot of the lyrics on the album were written about things going on in the world at that time and unfortunately the lyrics to “Billy Boo The Gunman” about a fictional police officer whose actions represented the violence towards protestors (at that time it was the Vietnam War protestors) are just as relevant in today’s world as they were when it was released fifty-three years ago.  Musically it's a funky blues rocker with some interesting tempo shifts, outstanding guitar work and an everpresent cowbell.  “Indian Summer” starts off as a slow, mystical song that’s somewhat reminiscent of The Doors and then moves into a twisting turning everchanging prog like tune.  Their cover of Richie Havens’ “Just Above My Hobby Horse’s Head” is a catchy folk tune with a hint of a Middle Eastern flavor (largely thanks to the guest appearance from Shawn Phillips on sitar) that is not too far removed from the original.  Closing out the album is “Wait A Minute”, a really nice laid back rocker with a bit of a soul vibe along with some psychedelia in the guitar work.  The first disc also contains four bonus tracks starting off with the upbeat pop “Postcard” and the jazzy “Everyone’s Leaving Me Now”, which were on a single that was released between albums.  The other two tracks are a live version of “Listen To The Silence” and “New Day”, an unreleased single track that is a feel good tune with a bit of a Beatles feel and some choral like vocals. 

Disc two contains six live cuts that were recorded at two different festivals in Belgium.  Opening the disc is an excellent version of “Indian Summer” recorded at the Bilzen Festival on August 24,1969.  Their performance of this song really allows the band to showcase their musicianship.  The remaining five tracks were recorded at the Amougies Festival on October 26, 1969.  First up is a cover of Shawn Phillips jazzy rocker “Stargazer”, which is followed by an over the top, bombastic version of “Peace Loving Man”.   The final three cuts are actually a twenty-five minute long cover of the Ben E King and James Bethea tune “Grooving” (divided into three parts) that turns into a blues rock jam session and is notable because it features festival emcee Frank Zappa playing guitar with them. 

Closing out the box set on disc three are ten songs labelled “Rarities and Demos” and starts with really cool acoustic guitar and vocal demo versions of “Postcard” and the never finished “Riverboat”.  Version 1 of “Peace Loving Man” is up next and is followed a little later by Version 2.  Both of these are a bit longer than the album version and make for interesting listens as the band experiments with the song musically, vocally and lyrically.  “Nobody But” is an rock tune driven largely by a slinky bass and a slight funky jazz beat and is followed by a stripped down demo of “Wait A Minute”.  While I’m not sure that it was ever intended to be a Blossom Toes song, “Poli’s Folly” is a fun, although a bit lengthy, ten minute long jazz piece performed on the vibes by then drummer John “Poli” Palmer.  Even though “First Love Song” never actually made it to an album, a live version recorded in August 1967 can be found in the bonus tracks on their recently reissued debut, and while remnants of that version can be found here, it has evolved a little into more of a bluesy prog tune with a hint of jazz in parts.  Featuring Brian Auger on piano, who is credited as songwriter along with all four members of the band, “Marmalade Jam” is pretty much just that – a slow funky R&B jam.  Closing out disc three is a stripped down, less polished, demo version of “New Day”, which to me is an improvement over the version heard on disc one that was slated to be a single, but never was.  Overall this collection of bonus cuts is very impressive and a very welcome addition to this box set.  Also including a booklet with an essay and exclusive interviews, this is an stellar tribute to the (sort of) final chapter of this band.  Not long after Blossom Toes called it a day, three of the band members, guitarist / vocalist Brian Godding, bassist / vocalist Brian Belshaw and original drummer Kevin Westlake got together and recorded an album under the name BB Blunder (this album has also recently been given the deluxe reissue treatment). 

(Esoteric Recordings)