THE ILLUSION – Together (as a way of life) – (Steed) – 1969

You can read up on the Illusion way back in "What Frank is listening to #36". For those who may have "accidentally" deleted the comment rather than saving the same to a folder (and of course backing it up) I said … "The Illusion" were a east coast ( Long Island) guitar based psychedelic heavy rock act. They played musically in the same scene as the "Vanilla Fudge" and the "Young Rascals" and like them shared Italian-American roots …. they were kids from the same neighbourhood getting together to form a band (in the US in those days, and still now to an extent, the chances were that neighbourhoods would be of similar ancestry or cultural extraction) … Subsequent reading reveals that the band was part of the “Long Island Sound”, which included  The Rascals, The Vagrants, Vanilla Fudge. Which I can see …. interestingly they were all non-Anglo kids ( mainly Italian or Jewish) …which is not surprising ….given the ethnic mix of Long Island. Apparently, The Illusion opened for The Allman Brothers, The Who, Chicago, Mitch Ryder, Savoy Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, and Jimi Hendrix., they had a minor Top 40 hit in 1970 with “Did You See Her Eyes”. The band disbanded shortly after".

I said in #36 that the "If It's So" album … follows the same path of the first LP (1969) from memory – perhaps a little heavier. Regardless of how heavy they got though melody and rhythm were still dominant and there is still a fair amount of "blue eyed soul" al la Mitch Ryder in there ( not as much as the first LP) – maybe they never forgot they were originally a rock "dance band".They come across much like "Iron Butterfly" or "Steppenwolf" and they compare favourably though they never had the one big hit like those bands.

This album (their second) is a mixed bag – the psychedelic aspects have been toned down and the album has some heavy workouts which lend themselves to the "cock rock" excess of the 70s, but generally it's a lot more quieter than the other two albums. The rhythm is still "heavy funk" but there are quite a few "electric ballads", the odd pop song, and even a blues. Importantly though the songs are not up to the quality of the first album. Two albums in two years would test anyone's repertoire and it has here. It seems the band here may have been experimenting with a variety of sounds to find which market they could fit into.

Ahh, the difficult "second album syndrome"  definitely applies. Luckily with the third album they went heavier again – which suits them best.

Again they were produced by Jeff Barry … read the earlier comment or google him.

Lastly, the cover art is poor for a semi-major label release … what is collectable of this era unfortunately, sometimes, depends on the cover art, and a fuzzy picture with a tombstone and some superimposed writing doesn't cut it … it's more of a back cover picture.

• How Does it Feel – a rocky groover – very much of its time … definitely one for strutting or cock swinging.

• Don't Push It – a funky workout.

• Love Me Girl – straight pop – think "The Loving Spoonful" go heavy electric … it goes on for a minute too long though.

• Together – this song is plain weird and was probably influenced by The Beatles circa Sgt Peppers. It's a bouncy mid-tempo track with back-up vocals from a choir of some sorts, which turns quite electric half way through … I'm not sure it is good but at least it's "out there".

And …

Not as good as the other two albums but I'll keep it because I have the other them.

Sounds

How Does it Feel

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