Notes

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Size: 148 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: chrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

The group's second album is a diverse collection of tracks that manages to take in elements of country-rock, lite-rock, and psychedelia -- and occasionally comes up with winning moments do to some tight songwriting. The band had a great sound that seemed to fall somewhere between the Small Faces and Bread. As much of a vehicle as the album might have been for "Reflections of My Life," there are several tracks that manage to stand out after a few listens. From the excellent bit of countrified harmony pop that is "Carolina on My Mind" to the fragile, baroque ballads like "Dear John" and "And Yours in Piece of Mine," the group delivers flowery soft rock with Left Banke-esque touches and dashes of Moog. The track "Kaleidescope" is precisely the kind of psychedelic overload you would expect.

"Fight Say the Mighty" takes the rollicking country-rock route for awhile before dropping in a buzzing Moog and a disorienting, crashing cymbal at the end of each chorus. "Reflections of My Life" is probably the group's finest moment as it fuses harmony, colorful orchestration, and soul music into one triumphant four-minute pop song. The guitar solo featured in the middle is one that must have fallen from the pages of George Harrison's songbook. "And Yours in Piece of Mine" follows the same formula as "Reflections," while not soaring quite so high, but still managing to effectively blend syrupy orchestration and harpsichord. Through and through, the pop guitar work of Junior Campbell and vocalist Dean Ford manage to make things consistently interesting. If you are a fan of psychedelic lite-pop and soft folk-rock, this is a great release from a great, unsung band.

Marmalade is one of those groups that just seems to endure. They are best remembered today for one record, their cover of the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," although they charted number one records and even Top Ten American singles into the 1970s. The group, especially as constituted up through the early '70s, had many sides, including white soul, harmony dominated pop/rock, and progressive pop, all very much like the Beatles in their middle years. However, it was their cover of a Beatles song, oddly enough, that weighed down their reputation.
In point of fact, they did somewhat resemble the Beatles musically, having started out as a band of teenagers eager to play hard rock & roll; like the Beatles, they developed a great degree of sophistication in their singing and playing, but they never had the freedom to experiment with the different sides of their music. Ironically, in their prime, their career arc most resembled that of the Tremeloes, who made incredibly well-crafted pop/rock but were never taken seriously.

The group re-emerged in the winter of 1969 after nearly a year of inactivity with "Reflections of My Life," a daring original by Campbell and Ford incorporating pop/rock and harder progressive elements, including some superb guitar work. It topped the English charts six weeks after its release, in the final week of January 1970, and became a Top Ten American single as well. They followed this up with the equally appealing (though less successful) "Rainbow," which charted in both England and America.
These twin hits were followed by the LP Reflections of the Marmalade, which proved to be something less than a success, owing to the sheer diversity of sounds on it that ranged from soulful rockers and harmony dominated progressive-sounding material to their covers of singer/songwriter-type repertory. The LP never found an audience in England, but did in America, where it was retitled Reflections of My Life and reached number 71.

01. Super Clean Jean
02. Carolina On My Mind
03. I'll Be Home (In A Day Or So)
04. And Yours Is A Piece Of Mine
05. Some Other Guy
06. Kaleidoscope
07. Dear John
08. Fight Say The Mighty
09. Reflections Of My Life
10. Life Is
+ Alot of Bonus