Clear Light

Although the band only recorded one album in 1967 before disbanding, Clear Light’s Los Angeles psychedelia fit perfectly on Elektra alongside such acts as The Doors, Love, and Tim Buckley. “Black Roses” jangles like an early Byrds tune before Cliff De Young starts singing with throaty inflections that have more in common with Jim Morrison. The following “Sand” unleashes some of the era’s prerequisite fuzz guitar and Hammond organ; when they're played at a marching rhythm, the result's an archetypical style of West Coast acid-rock. De Young over-annunciates his lyrics in the playful “A Child’s Smile,” sounding like Arthur Lee—especially when accompanied by baroque-pop instrumentation. “She's Ready to Be Free” balances frantic early-'60s go-go beats with late-'60s trippy studio acoutrements for a song that’s as catchy as it is psychedelic. But the heady cover of Tom Paxton’s “Mr. Blue” is what became the album’s notable hit. Dallas Taylor’s stellar drumming would later accompany Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.