Pearls Before Swine - Balaklava

ESP Disk - LP
US, 1968
Psychedelic / Folk / Rock 

Top psychedelic folk album from Pearls Before Swine on cult NYC ESP Disk label, featuring a great cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne'. A dive into 1960's Chelsea Village, back when it was much more than just a boring mall.

Baklava is a flawless classic from the late 1960's NYC underground, and probably not that known in Europe, compared to Pearls Before Swine 1970's albums, mainly because it was released on a smaller underground NYC label, 'ESP Disk (next to Albert Ayler, Sun Ra & Pharoah Sanders), than Use Of Ashes. In my opinion, it's also their best album: more gritty than the following LP's and more complex than the previous one. Very contained psychedelism, showcased on a digest album with pastoral and animist themes that particularly appeal to me. Great from start to finish (VG+ / VG+)

Tracklist

1. Trumpeter Landfrey....
2. Translucent Carriages
3. Images Of April
4. There Was A Man
5. I Saw The World
6. Guardian Angels
7. Suzanne
8. Lepers And Roses
9. Florence Nightingale....
10. Ring Thing