Taped in a London apartment on a two-track machine in 1968, and released on cassette in 1985 and on vinyl in 1996,
J.P. Sunshine's solitary album is an overlooked treasure trove of British pop-psychedelia. The band formed at the height of the flower-power era in 1967, featuring Rod Goodway (guitar, vocals); Andy Rickell (guitar);
Adrian Shaw (bass); and percussionists Pete Biles, Pat Morphin, and George Duffell (also the lyricist). Their primary inspiration came from American West Coast artists like
Jefferson Airplane,
Love, and
Tim Buckley. Written and performed under such influences -- and under the influence of various substances --
J.P. Sunshine is a fascinating document of some rather far-out times. With their Spanish-style guitar and galloping rhythms, numbers like "This Side Up" (about the challenges posed by sexual activity while tripping on LSD) and "Hey Girl" suggest a lo-fi reimagining of
Love's
Da Capo. There's also a more bluesy orientation, running from the sublime (the spacy, xylophone-adorned "Love Scene") to the gleefully ridiculous (a comically throaty "Dirt Blues"). American influences notwithstanding,
J.P. Sunshine's psychedelia has distinctly English elements: the stoned Renaissance folk nuances of "Dark Star," the trippy pastoral idyll of "Hand in Hand," and the underwater whimsy of the standout "Octopus." This celebration of the "mystical monster marine" and its "deadly erotic embrace" is the sort of quirky psychedelic pop song that could have been a huge hit single.
Pink Floyd's management was impressed by a tape of this album and suggested it be rerecorded with proper drums. However, tensions within the band and a drug bust put an end to
J.P. Sunshine in late 1968, and the record went unreleased. (
Shaw, Goodway, and Rickell subsequently played in numerous British cult bands, including
the Crazy World of Arthur Brown,
Magic Muscle,
Hawkwind, and
the Bevis Frond.) ~ Wilson Neate