BLOSSOM TOES
If Only For A Moment ESOTERIC
Standing on the tipping point between psych and prog.
Blossom Toes are a band that by all rights should have vanished into the mists of time. They released just two albums, We Are Ever So Clean in 1967, and If Only For A Moment two years later. They were signed to Marmalade, the label founded by Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky, but fortune failed to smile on Blossom Toes. Neither of their albums troubled the charts, although We Are Ever So Clean has since been re-evaluated and embraced as a highlight of British 60s psychedelia. This three-disc set aims to make a similar case for the follow-up.
If Only For A Moment found the band taking their sound in a heavier direction. Peace Loving Man has a menacing riff not dissimilar to Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, which it predates, and a suitably intense vocal from bassist Brian Belshaw. The writing team of Belshaw and singer/guitarist Jim Cregan was not afraid to push musical boundaries. There’s proto-prog in the shifting moods of Kiss Of Confusion or the changing meters of
Listen To The Silence, while the twin guitar harmonies of Indian Summer are a precursor to Wishbone Ash and 70s hard rock.
The original eight songs on If Only… are bolstered by four bonus tracks, although Postcard and Everyone’s Leaving Me Now hark back to the psychedelic pop of the first album, even as they’re catchy and playful. The second disc contains live performances from two Belgian festival appearances, but the sound quality is awful, with too much treble, no lowend, and a lot of unintended distortion. The presence of Frank Zappa on the three-part Grooving will probably appeal to collectors, but it’s an aimless, noodling jam session.
The third disc of demos and rarities is only mildly more diverting. Poli’s Folly is a 10-minute vibraphone improvisation from drummer Poli Palmer, and Marmalade Jam is another bout of unstructured noodling. If Only For A Moment is a great, overlooked album, but the other two discs are drawn from distinctly slim pickings.