A record that virtually defies categorization, Pearls Before Swine's
1968 epic Balaklava is the near-brilliant follow-up to One Nation Underground.
Intended as a defiant condemnation of the Vietnam War, it doesn't offer
anthemic, fist-pounding protest songs. Instead, Rapp vented his anger
through surrealist poetry, irony, and historical reference: Balaklava
was the 1854 Crimean War battle that inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson to
write his epic The Charge of the Light Brigade; in reality, the "Charge"
was a senseless military action that killed scores of British soldiers.
Balaklava begins with "Trumpeter Landfrey," an 1880's recording
of the actual voice and bugle charge of the man who sounded the charge
at Balaklava. It makes the transition into "Translucent Carriages,"
a mix of acoustic guitars, a basic vocal, and ghostly narration ("Jesus
raised the dead...but who will raise the living?"), all the more
stunning. "Images of April" continues the mystical feel, combining
flutes, cricket chirps, and frog croaks for a nether-worldly effect. Rapp
virtually cries "I Saw the World," backed by a powerful string
arrangement that makes the song even more impassioned. Like One Nation
Underground, Balaklava is somewhat unfocused: "There Was a Man"
is a little too Dylan-esque, and Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" detracts
from Rapp's compositions. Unfortunately, the record closes with "Ring
Thing," a morbid piece that refers to Tolkien's famous Lord of the
Rings trilogy. Still, this is superb psychedelic music, successfully merging
exotic instruments like marimba, clavinet, French horn, and swinehorn
with Rapp's unique lisping vocals. But Balaklava isn't just acid-trip
background music. It's probably the best example of what Rapp calls "constructive
melancholy" (also the name of a recent CD collection of Pearls songs),
a combination of the real with the surreal, and it's indispensable to
any serious '60s rock collection.
(by Peter Kurtz, All
Music Guide)
|