The Bards - The Moses Lake Recordings (Reissue) (1968/2002)

The Bards were a garage band formed in Moses Lake, Washington in the early 60s that somehow managed to rise above their many mediocre peers and and almost reached national fame. Almost. They opened for such acts as The Dave Clark Five and Tommy Roe and managed to release a bunch of decent singles throughout the 60s on various small labels.
Interestingly enough, this album came about from the band's chance encounter with Curt Boettcher in a Hollywood elevator in 1968 while the band were attempting to pitch their sound to the big labels. Amused by their lack of Hollywood chic, Boettcher and his co-producer, Keith Olsen agreed to hear their tapes and soon agreed to record an album of all original material. Somehow, the project never saw release (The record label it was to be released on reportedly went belly-up) until 2002.
On the surface, this album seems like an epic masterpiece but it has its flaws. The album is very ambitious in content matter and if you didn't know any better, you'd think it was Christian rock. The entire second half of the album is taken up by a suite detailing the Creation of man by God which feels like it should be its own concept album, not really relating to the first half of the album and kind of feeling out of place. The themes of religion and creation to tend to limit the material, lessening the appeal of the album as a whole. The musicianship and production are still excellent. It's a great blend of psychedelic rock and garage rock with catchy pop elements. "Oobleck" is a stand-out track only because of how weird it is and it reminds me of Dr. John at times. I notice also that Dr. Seuss is given co-writing credit for it, lol. Also of note is the Creation suite closer, "Hollow Men", a rather good psychedelic tune that ends the album on an uncertain note about humanity. "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper..."
This album definitely deserves more attention than it's getting but I hesitate to call it a lost masterpiece. Judging by this album, The Bards certainly had the potential. The timing was just wrong as in so many other cases.