In the great game of musical Monopoly, The Guggenheim Grotto have landed on the space “do not pass 1969”. Their influences are primarily Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Leonard Cohen. Indeed, the ghosts of most of the aforementioned, plus a swirling Wurlitzer, show up for the excellent opening track ‘Philosophia’, and bob in and out until the finale.
The album is superbly packaged like a hardback book, containing pictures, comic drawings, informative if self-flattering sleeve notes, and a ludicrously extensive list of thank-yous, lyrics and credits.
It’s virtually all the work of Messrs May, Lynch and Power and occasional friends. The singing, playing and production are faultless, and the songs are unfailingly tuneful and intelligently structured. There’s a truly emotive cello on ‘Koan’, delicious guitar on ‘Cold Truth’, and ‘Vertigo’ is one of the few unhippified tracks, moving nicely over to blue-eyed soul territory. On the other hand, ‘Ozymandias’ is bad Paul Simon, and ‘Wonderful Wizard’ needs the real EL Cohen to do it justice. Still, ‘Rosanna’ is hauntingly beautiful, and on ‘I Think I Love You’ they up the tempo, throw in tasty steel guitar and become Tammy Wynette. The single ‘Told You So’ has echoes of Travis, Coldplay and Paddy Casey and is the only convincing stab at modernity.
Waltzing Alone could be the best new 60s album released this year. If you’re not into that (I am, because they do it seriously well) then I won’t detain you any longer.