Description
SKU/Barcode: 029667420228
The Spiders recorded from the mid-'60s through around 1970 in a variety of styles. However, this 28-song compilation is exclusively comprised of the 1966-1968 British Invasion-garage-psych material with the strongest appeal to international collectors. Looked at in the cold objective light of day, it couldn't be rated among the best such stuff to pour forth from non-English-speaking lands, although it's certainly brimming with frenzied energy. Their weaknesses were common to many such bands, whatever their native language. Their original material was frequently derivative, and lacked the melodic invention and instrumental skill of their inspirations; many of these are feverish but basic R&B-pop hybrids. Getting past all that -- few people are checking this out expecting something on the order of the Yardbirds or even the Chocolate Watch Band, after all -- it's brash, if oft-rudimentary, beat music with some unusual twists, particularly in the ants-in-the-pants raunchy vocals, sung in both Japanese and English. "Kuroyuri No Uta" is a clever psych-pop number that appropriates a vocal hook from the Association's "Cherish"; "Lucky Rain" is a good illustration of their occasional facility with brooding, minor-keyed tunes; "Summer Girl" illustrates their occasional bent toward Beach Boys-influenced California pop; and "Kaze Ga Naiteriru" and "Ano Niji Wo Tsukamo" summon some genuinely weird moods with their mix of growly spy guitar and cinematic orchestration.