It may not be as unexpected or grand as
All Things Must Pass, but
Palm Wine Sunday Blue, the solo debut from
Eric Lichter, who plays the
George Harrison role in Seattle's psych-pop masters
the Green Pajamas, is a delightful surprise nonetheless.
Lichter had added a song or two to several
Green Pajamas albums since joining in the early '90s, but the band had stayed firmly in the control of its longtime leaders
Jeff Kelly and Joe Ross. The surprises are twofold on first listen to his solo debut; first, that the overall tone is so much sunnier than
the Green Pajamas' melancholy ruminations; and, second, that despite the more upbeat tone, this is clearly an album by a member of
the Green Pajamas. As on
Jeff Kelly's solo debut,
Indiscretion, the arrangements are indisputably
Pajamas-like: the meandering intros, minor-key 12-string guitars, and double-tracked vocals are all present and accounted for, as are the odd but effective touches like the koto that underpins the catchy opener "Wildly Polite." And yet, in songs like "Haley Mills" (about a long-burning crush on the British actress/singer, who, to nitpick, actually spells her name
Hayley Mills) and the
Arthur Lee-soundalike "Lavender Swing," there's an upbeat, cheery vibe to this album that makes it a much more immediately engaging listen than
the Green Pajamas' albums, which tend to take a few spins before they sink in. ~ Stewart Mason