After recording their sole album to receive wide national distribution (1969's The Corporation, released on Capitol), Milwaukee band the Corporation recorded two LPs of additional material that found release the following year on Age of Aquarius, a small Wisconsin label. This 2008 CD reissues both albums on the same disc, with the addition of thorough historical liner notes. Comprised entirely of original material, both are pretty mediocre slices of late-'60s psychedelia. While the band favored a generally bluesy hard rock sound, there were also strong hints of brassy soul music in the arrangements, particularly Danny Peil's trembling vocals. There were also traces of melancholy West Coast psychedelia in some of the melodies, vocal harmonies, and gothic organ, often lending a somewhat downbeat tone to the material even when the lyrics are somewhat upbeat or romantic. The only notable difference between the two albums is that the songs are longer on the second of the pair, Hassles in My Mind, usually hovering around the five-minute mark, and in one case ("My Child, He Walks Alone") running ten minutes. Many of the attributes of psychedelia as it verged into hard rock are here -- muscular overwrought vocals, fuzz guitar, thick organ riffs, grinding ominous melodies -- though the Corporation had somewhat more soul and jazz influences than the usual such outfit, especially when John Kondos took to his flute. The improvisational-sounding instrumental passages are actually more together and disciplined than they are on many such obscure discs from the era, but the songwriting isn't too good, and the lyrics occasionally embarrassingly clumsy.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo