Son Of Return Of Bride Of The Kurse Of The Kaftan Dept. - Colours

In the latest in our popular series documenting the transition from love beads to Levi bibs (which a little bird tells me is up for a Pulitzer nom this year!) we're looking at the swell group Colours [note swanky English spelling - Ed.].

Their first album - a beautiful piece of work - is from '68 because of course it is, and gets the usual sniffy critical dismissal, mainly for being influenced by the Beatles.

Couple of things. Every pop group and rock band on the planet was influenced by the Beatles, because they were all over the media like no other band. They had it sewn up, due to talent supported by savvy management and publicity. So yeah, Colours sound like the Beatles, like everybody else. Second thing is, the Beatles didn't invent the psych-pop idiom or its vocabulary - they were just as influenced as anybody else, but they were quicker on the uptake and quicker on the output, a real-time barometer of what was happening in late 'sixties pop.

Misleading cover art by Victor Moscoso

Okay - what we have here is the world class rhythm section of Carl Radle and Chuck Blackwell, with songs performed and written by Jack Dalton and Gary Montgomery. Only the latter two (apparently) went on to the second album, Atmosphere (sometimes called Colours by a group called Atmosphere, which makes zero sense). As it's '69 already, all the psych trappings are dropped, but this isn't country rock, it's a straight ahead, non-ironic and damn swell rock album. Which is more than the Beatles ever managed, right?