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The Paisleys – Cosmic Mind At Play (1970)

March 6, 2013

The Paisleys – Cosmic Mind At Play (1970)

The Paisleys “Cosmic Mind At Play” (Peace
Records 1970)
During the counterculture years, concept
albums were in vogue. Any band that had the gumption to create such progressive
noise was usually thought to possess supernatural faculties. That said, the
Paisleys command a pile of handclaps for laying down their own brain-bending
voyage of adventurous twists and turns. “Cosmic Mind At Play” was to be the
Minnesota band’s one and only album, which is a real pity because they seemed
to have a lot going for them. Not a big-budget production, the disc bestows a
definitive homegrown finish that sporadically splatters trickles of scruffy garage
rock residue onto the psychedelic canvas.
Archetypal hippy dippy psychobabble also
blankets the album, as topics like spirituality, liberation and freedom are
addressed. But a lighthearted persona still persists, making it evident the
Paisleys didn’t take themselves too seriously. For example, the jolting
pulsations of “Now” features the sound of somebody sucking on a joint, while
“Musical Journey” entails snippets of a car advertisement and the voice of a
sports commentator announcing the score of a baseball game. Although a trippy
tie-dye vibe dictates “Cosmic Mind At Play,” a variety of moods actually enter
the picture, running the gamut from edgy power pop stylings to the classical
ambience of “Wind.” Contrary to the greater percentage of their peers carousing
similar terrain, the Paisleys didn’t saturate their songs with overblown
jamming.
Relying on basic instrumentation to get
their point across, the band was clearly influenced by the punchy rhythms and
melodic sensibilities of the Beatles and the Who. Stunning harmonies, combined
with catchy guitar riffs and inspired keyboard workouts further charge the
album to heavenly heights. However, enough originality seeps through the
grooves of “Cosmic Mind At Play,” allowing it to stand its own ground among
numerous other concept confections of the era.
Review made by Beverly Paterson/2013
© Copyright
http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2013
4 Comments
  1. Anonymous says:

    I loved the Paisleys. They played at a big summer dance in Richfield in '70 with other local bands.

  2. Musical Journey is one of my favorite songs of all time.

  3. T Revelator. says:

    The Paisleys were, for a while in the late 60's the house band at Dania Hall (above Richter's Drugstore) located on the corner of 6th and Cedar on Minneapolis' West Bank. This area was the heart of the Twin Cities hippie community.

  4. Christopher Smith says:

    Try listening to the song “Wind”, then listen to Motley Crue’s song…. I think it’s called “Slice of your pie” at 2 minutes and 41 seconds and you can clearly hear the similarity/rip-off

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