*JUST IN!* VA (Saint Etienne) – Safe In My Garden – Ace UK 2LP

Peace and love in late 60s America did not come without parallel feelings of fear and confusion about the social situation – specifically about Vietnam. “Safe In My Garden” is the latest Ace compilation in an acclaimed series compiled by Bob Stanley – it’s a companion piece to the much-praised “State Of The Union (The American Dream In Crisis 1967 – 1973” Ace CDCHD 1533/XXQLP2 057 2018).

The music on “Safe In My Garden” is harmony-laden, beautifully produced soft rock. Sunshine pop, even – a melodic, innovative style of American music that grew in the mid-60s out of the folk and surf scenes, exemplified the Beach Boys and the Mamas and Papas. You will hear orchestral arrangements, and soft boy-girl vocals. But it wasn’t made in isolation from what was going on in the outside world. There are clouds and minor chords, plenty of melancholy in those harmonies.

“Safe In My Garden” includes songs of escape (Mark Eric’s ‘Move With The Dawn’, the Groop’s ‘A Famous Myth’), loss (the Eighth Day’s ‘How Can I Stop Loving You’, the New Colony Six’s ‘Prairie Grey’), dreamscapes (Tommy James and the Shondells’ ‘She’, Nancy Priddy’s ‘You’ve Come This Way Before’), rebirth (Smokey and his Sister’s ‘Creators Of Rain’), a simpler world (the Free Design’s ‘My Brother Woody’) and a philosophically sounder future (Chad & Jeremy’s ‘The Ark’, Best of Friends’ ‘Summer Sound’).

It contains some surprisingly dark messages paired with beautiful melodies, as well as songs of hope. Thousands of young musicians in cities, suburbs and small towns across the States from the mid to late 60s spent their mornings hiding from the mailman, dreading the draft. This is the Sound of Young America in the late 60s, keeping its fingers crossed.

tracklist:

A01 Always You – The Sundowners
A02 Move With The Dawn – Mark Eric
A03 She – Tommy James & The Shondells
A04 A Famous Myth – The Groop
A05 Dreamin’ In The Shade (Down In L.A.) – Brewer & Shipley
A06 I Don’t Think I Know Her – Tee & Cara
B01 Knock On Wood – Harpers Bizarre
B02 The Visit (She Was Here) – The Cyrkle
B03 I See It Now – Fargo
B04 Summer Sound – Best Of Friends
B05 A Moment Of Being With You – The Critters
B06 Blight – The Millennium
C01 Jill – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
C02 I Can See Only You – Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends
C03 Little Dreams – The New Wave
C04 My Brother Woody – The Free Design
C05 Christina’s World – Nancy Priddy
C06 The Ark – Chad & Jeremy
D01 Creators Of Rain – Smokey & His Sister
D02 How Can I Stop Loving You – The Eighth Day
D03 Love Is A Rainy Sunday – Love Generation
D04 Springtime Meadows – The Sunshine Company
D05 The Word Is Love – Thomas & Richard Frost
D06 Prairie Grey – New Colony Six

COMING SOON!