Paul Parrish " The Forest Of My Mind " US Psych Folk sunhine Pop masterpiece!!!!
For all of your patient psychedelic archaeologists, here's your big payoff. I've got to admit that I know less than nothing about troubadour Paul Parrish, except that this release is amazing. It's a very groovy slice of Donovan-inflected psychedelic pop graced by the voice of a fellow that comes across like a hipper Micky Dolenz (although I have to admit that I do dig the Monkees).
Parrish rates as a first rate song writer going by the merits of this album. The first three tracks all sound like hit singles that never where and if the title track hasn't shown up on a Nuggets-style compilation, it certainly deserves to. Bringing up the Donovan comparison again, I might even go as far to say that as an album, I prefer this over Mr. Leitch's LPs. At least it's in cahoots with Sunshine Superman.
Even the covers come across pretty well. Usually, I'm a little wary when I see Beatles covers on an obscure bit of psychedelia, but Perrish pretty much hits the nail on the head on his cover of "You've Got To Hide (Your Love Away)." The album closes with an interesting folk-psych take on Motown with "I Can't Help Myself," although Parrish's voice lacks the grit to really make this one work completely.
As we move through the album, Parrish's tracks get a little more pastoral. "The White Birds (Return to Warm Seas" once again gives Donovan a run for his money,while "Flowers In The Park" tread lightly on Simon and Garfunkel territory (if you're familiar with them, it sounds even more like Heron).
Although coming directly from the deepest fog of obscurity, The Forest Of My Mind rates as a totally first rate album. It's pristine psychedelic folk pop that deserves some latter-day notoriety...
Paul Parrish's debut is a bright, excellently produced LP filled with remarkable sunshine-dipped folk-pop songs along the lines of Donovan. Replete with flute, strings, and slight psychedelic effects, the album gets by on the strength of Parrish's songs, especially tracks like "English Sparrows," "Suzanne," and "Flowers in the Park." Each track is ripe with rainbow-colored imagery and the requisite amount of forest/meadow scenarios. You'd want to dismiss it as merely kitsch if Parrish's vocals weren't so sweet and persuasive -- in the end, you're singing along and holding hands with whoever might be near. Even the covers of the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and the Holland-Dozier-Holland classic "I Can't Help Myself" fail to disappoint, and instead help put the album further into a detached yet pleasant, love-struck, and extremely wide-eyed version of psychedelic sunshine pop. .. by Jon Pruett
