Hello People - Fusion (Reissue) (1968/2013)

As one of the very few (and possibly only) denizens of that musical subgenre known as "mime rock," the Hello People could easily be dismissed as a gimmick act, but there was a lot more to them than just whiteface. Their roots actually trace back to the father of French mime, Etienne Decroux. During the '60s, Decroux taught painting to a group of musicians, who learned to paint so quickly that Decroux reasoned that musicians could also learn mime and apply it in some new way to create a new form. Thus inspired, the manager of the musicians Decroux had taught, Lou Futterman, then put together the Hello People, who went on to appear on The Tonight Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, tour with Todd Rundgren during the '70s, and release four albums for Philips and ABC-Dunhill during the late '60s and early '70s. Fusion, their second (1968) album for Philips, is easily their best; it features "Anthem," whose stark, antiwar lyrics ("So I'm going to prison for what I believe/I'm going to prison so I can be free") penned by band songwriter W.S. "Sonny" Tongue (who had been incarcerated for resisting the draft) led to its being banned in a number of radio markets. The rest of the record is folky psych with jazzy touches, particularly on the 5/4-metered "Jelly Jam." Our Real Gone reissue includes the original gatefold art and adds new liner notes; it's the first album from this one-of-a-kind group ever released on CD.