Thoughts And Words - Thoughts And Words (Reissue) (1969/2005)

This self-titled release was the sole album issued by Thoughts & Words, the duo of Bob Ponton and Martin Curtis, though they did record an unreleased Shel Talmy-produced LP slightly afterward that was put out as The Unreleased Album about 35 years later. Thoughts and Words itself is by and large pleasant folk-rock, but lacked either the identity or strong material necessary to make a strong impression on the late-'60s British rock scene. Certainly they were a versatile group, as "Morning Sky" was about as close as any U.K. act came to approximating the sounds of the Byrds circa 1967. On the next track ("And the Tears Fall Like Rain"), however, they're in a wholly acoustic harmonizing folk-pop mode; on the next ("Friends"), a less satisfyingly bluesy upbeat stomp. So it goes throughout the album, finding its most pleasant groove on dreamy acoustic songs with fingerpicked guitar in the style of Donovan and Paul McCartney at his lightest. They stumble when they try to get a little harder, and recall a much poppier Incredible String Band on tracks embellished by non-guitar instrumentation. Speaking of Donovan, "Father and Son" has a tune uncomfortably close to that used by Don on his early acoustic standout track "Try for the Sun." The rest of the record isn't nearly as derivative, the orchestrated "Charlie Gates" sounding, whether intentionally or not, like an attempt to bend their approach more toward the commercial psychedelic pop market.