Ultimate Spinach - Visions of Your Reality (1968)

This band was a notable act from the Boston, Massachusetts area which briefly attempted to combat the “San Francisco sound” alongside other bands, such as Beacon Street Union and Orpheus, through their mutual, fledgling producer, Alan Lorber, and his promotion of the “Bosstown Sound.” Formed from the remnants of a band known as Underground Cinema, this band was led by their primary songwriter, lead vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Ian Bruce-Douglas.

The song heard below was featured on the band’s second album, Behold & See, which was released in 1968, the same year as the release of their first album, which had been self-titled. Although the group’s first album achieved moderate success (#34 on the Billboard 200), their second album did not fare as well, peaking at #198. Bruce-Douglas would later lament that much of the band’s lack of success was due to producer Alan Lorber, who he believed was more interested in making a profit than artistic creativity or integrity. Bruce-Douglas left the band sometime after their second album, forcing Lorber to assemble a new line-up to create their contractually-obligated, third album, Ultimate Spinach III. That album, though, lacking the songwriting, singing, and musical talents of Bruce-Douglas, failed, and the group disbanded soon after.



Ultimate Spinach - Visions of Your Reality (1968)

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Lyrics:

I don’t want to be a rusty suit of armor
Or a tumbled-out, forgotten castle in your mind
I just want to be a twisted willow
So I can leave your shallow thinking far behind

I can feel the darkness in your shadows
And the melting of ice behind your troubled eyes
And the discoloration of all the words you’re saying
As you’re hunted without mercy by your lies

I’ve flown so high, I’ll never return
And I’ve been to the bottom of the dregs of your troubled soul
And I’ve basked in the sun of your revelations
But, I guess you and I, we have different goals

So, go and slay your dragons in blind amusement
And topple imagination with a song
And the moon- it plays little mind games
So you’ll wonder where all the stars have gone

Listen to me

You have spoken to be about nothing
And you’ve shown me fantasies in a crystal ball
And you’ve promised me the world for my asking
Don’t you know that, to me, it means nothing at all?

Because, I know you’d leave me a burnt out matchbox of forgotten roses
Inside a get-well card I had to address by myself
But that’s not what I need from another stranger
So, I guess I better do things without your help

So, I guess I better do things without your help
So, I guess I better do things without your help

Chamaeleon Church - Spring This Year (1968)

When the Boston-based band called the Lost broke up in 1967, their singer/guitarist Ted Myers met Tony Schueren through some friends he had in the Ultimate Spinach band. Beginning to work together, they recruited another ex-Lost member, Kyle Garrahan, to play bass. Myers, who was still under contract to a New York City producer named Alan Lorber, met Chevy Chase while recording in New York. Chase was added to the band’s lineup as their drummer, and Alan Lorber agreed to produce them. They called themselves Chamaeleon Church (sometimes spelled Chamæleon Church) and would on release one album, self-titled, on the MGM label. The band was short-lived, however, and they broke up in 1969, having never made any sort of commercial success. The band’s biggest association with fame would be that their drummer, Chevy Chase, would go on to be an international star as an actor, comedian, and original cast member of Saturday Night Live.

Released on the band’s only album, Chamaeleon Church, in 1968, this song was written by the band’s Ted Myers. It’s the only track on the album where you can hear Chevy Chase’s voice. Chase is heard in the background, emulating the voice of a circus barker.



Chamaeleon Church - Spring This Year (1968)

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Lyrics:

Spring this year
Has put my dreams behind me
Nothing to know now
And no place to go now

Like a fool
I let my pride overrule me
Windows I sit by and
Watch the spring slip by now

When you’re looking for something
That you know has no meaning
And you don’t want to find it
‘cause it might bring you down
So you go in a circle
With no end or beginning
If you’re seeking perfection
It’s the wrong way around

Spring this year
Is filled with false guarantees here
Flowers may sprout now
But I’m still left out now

Spring, I fear
Has made me look kind of foolish
Just goes to show me
How terribly lonely I am

When you’re looking for something
That you know has no meaning
And you don’t want to find it
‘cause it might bring you down
So you go in a circle
With no end or beginning
If you’re seeking perfection
It’s the wrong way around

Spring is here
But I can hardly feel it
I see the sunlight
But my heart is air-tight

I could spend the days out somewhere tripping
But why look for love when it will just hang me out again?