There is something delightfully whimsical about classic English psychedelic folk: sprightly melodies, images of dancing fawns in the moonlight, eccentric philosophical musings, a prevailing sense of happiness. There’s rarely a polemical observation to be found; and within the strangeness of life lies its eternal beauty.
Lost for over three decades in Greil Marcus’ dustbin of history, Fuchsia were given a new lease of life in 2005 when the band’s 1970 debut album was deemed a ‘forgotten classic’ in Mojo magazine. Fuchsia II is, oddly enough, the band’s third album since its resuscitation (although only guitarist and vocalist Tony Durant remains from the original lineup).
To listen to Fuchsia II is to embark on a journey through time and space: the time is 1970 all over again, with the winds of social and political change in the air; the space is the English countryside, as lush, green and splendid as a trite BBC sitcom. The mood is perfectly whimsical – who else but an English psych-folk band could embrace middle-age music like Melancholy Road, an ideal blend of reflection, tragedy and hope?
Or the poly-cultural romanticism of Girl From Kandahar, the funky stringed-symphonic splendour of Lost Generation or even Hawkwind meets Crosby, Stills, and Nash polite folk of Fuchsia Song?
And while I’ll Remember Her Face is so soft it almost implodes, Rainbow Song is Neil Young in his English hippie guise, The Waves is mixed geographical metaphor and gypsy wonder writ large and Piper at the Gates channels the lost spirit of Syd Barrett in all his troubled, brilliant glory. By the end, you can almost forget that the promise of 1970 was overtaken by the disappointment and discontent of the succeeding decade. Fuschia II is a trip to another place, and it’s a good place to be.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Melancholy Road
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Early Pink Floyd, Hawkwind
In A Word: Folk
