The sole LP of a Caifornian artist, released in Holland, has an impressive opening with the totally Barrett-with-strings "A Real Fine Time". A rather rich production - the basic rock instruments with something like a strings ensemble - often creating an amazing wall-of-sound, contrasting with the unusual melodic lines that Tingley uses in several tracks. This is rather different from the use of strings in other psychedelic records, like in "Forever Changes" and closer to Phil Spector's way. Sometimes flutes, layered vocals, tablas and acoustic guitars are used to give the desired psychedelic (or folky in a few cases) sound.
I wouldn't know if the producer (Tony Vos - also jazz saxophonist, DJ in famous Radio Veronica) or Mike Tingley himself had studied the Beatles' arrangements in Rubber Soul or Sgt.Pepper that was released a little earlier, but this album is standing between the psychedelic era of the Byrds, Syd Barrett and Sgt. Pepper. There are a few songs that sound too mellow today and they could never be called psychedelic but rather teenage pop, like "Begin the Sun" or "Crossroads", but this was more or less usual at that time (don't forget that it was released on Decca)
Another unusual point is the lyrics: we're listening not just the broken heart stories or the peace-and-love messages that we'd expect, but also political songs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.