The Heavy Colibri

Us band from Fitchbourg Massachussets, great heavy psych sound!

Produced by Zell Sanders, "Just Like You" probably won't have a major influence on anyone's life. It also isn't the psych masterpiece some dealers would have you believe. Those qualifiers aside, the overall results were surprisingly good. The album was even more impressive when you consider J&S rush-released the set without the band's approval. Not only was the original artwork lost, but the collection was given a new title (the planned album title was "Three In One"), and at least some of the final tracks reflected little more than raw studio demos the band had planned to flesh out at a later date. Writing separately and in collaboration, Belliveau and Schuller and were responsible for penning all nine tracks. The pair were certainly decent writers with tracks like 'What's Right for Me', 'Take My Soul' and 'Slumberland Blues' displaying their ear for churning blues-rock. They'd clearly been listening to loads of Cream and Mountain. Sure, the vocals were occasionally a bit strained, the sound was somewhat raw, and there wasn't a great deal of originality in these grooves. On the other hand, 'Second Time for Me' would have sounded great on FM radio. 'I Don't Know Who To Blame' showcased some first-rate screeching guitar from Belliveau. The organ-propelled 'What's Right For Me would have made Deep Purple proud, while the atypical acoustic ballad 'Just Like You' boasted their prettiest melody. Besides, on songs like 'Trouble' these guys offered up more enthusiasm than many of their name brand competitors and remember the old adage imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. All told, one of the better undiscovered era offerings and well worth seeking out, especially since you can score a copy at a reasonable rate. As a sidebar, at one point in time the album was quite a rarity commanding rather high prices, however there was either a large warehouse find, or someone's gone to considerable effort to repress the LP. Coupled with a CD release. the album now seems to be readily available ... from http://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/PUGSLEYmunion.htm