The Dragons BFI by: Tom Bradbury Mon:17-Sep-07 Label: Ninja Tune Year: 2007 WB rating 75 out of 100

Most albums coming out right now were likely recorded in early 2007 or late 2006. It is doubtful that many were recorded in 1969, and even more doubtful that their release was delayed for nearly 40 years, as is the story with BFI from The Dragons. Unable to secure a contract it seemed as though the band’s only album would never be released – until now. Strictly Kev of DJ Food uncovered one of The Dragons’ long forgotten songs on a ‘70s surf film compilation and tracked down the band, discovering that they still had master tapes for the album. The rest, as they say, is history; BFI playing like a mix tape of ‘60’s psychedelia, with a catalogue of influences ranging from The Doors to Iron Butterfly.

The first thing you’ll notice about The Dragons is that one of their vocalists sounds very much like Jim Morrison. In fact, the band sound so much like The Doors at times that it would’ve been hard to take them seriously at inception, so perhaps The Dragons have benefited from their 38 year maturation. The best track on BFI, ‘Mercy Call’, follows this trend, sounding like a Doors B-side. With its psychedelic soul, complete with backing girls, it contrasts slickness with chaos. ‘Touch Me Babe’ features vocals crooned over beautiful piano and organ lines punctuated by schizophrenic interludes of bomb blasts and children pleading for peace. Perhaps the only unfortunate thing about this song is that the lyrics have not dated well, sounding entirely symptomatic of late sixties naiveté –“Pray for an end to the war/No more hate like before”.

I can understand how BFI could drive a lot of people crazy. After all, it’s astonishingly cheesy, tracks like ‘On The Wall’ displaying production techniques and songwriting akin to all the things about 1969 that make people cringe today – random exotic flourishes and ridiculous sound effects – the trappings of experimental music that only a few envelope-pushing bands could pull off without sounding inane. But these qualities are what is great about BFI - it is a lost relic of late ‘60s insanity. You only ever hear the influential and popular bands from the 60s, so who knows how much of this generic psychedelia exists?

‘Are You There’ is the sort of song that somebody might cut for a parody of psychedelic pop, like Spinal Tap’s ‘Flower People’ – it’s a joke with a punch line that has you humming along. Indeed, there are points on this album when I wondered if the whole thing was simply a set up. Yet mostly The Dragons remember to place melody before wackiness, and a couple of other songs on BFI are worthy of mention for their groove and tunefulness. ‘Sandman’ predates the Sesame Street theme by many years, its nearly-identical piano riff demonstrating what all children know - that song is truly a feet mover.

BFI should be appreciated for its wonderfully overblown nature, and for its reminder of a wildly fantastic time when people seemed to have no idea of how ridiculous they looked and sounded, so caught up were they in their cultural revolution. Listen to what the flower people say; it might just be something worth hearing.