KATCH 22/IT'S SOFT ROCK & ALLSORTS EROS 8047 (-68) UK

Band formed 1966 as The Midnite Blues. After being spotted at the 100 Club in London by manager and producer Tokenam Aw he changed their name to Katch 22 and got them a contract with Fontana for which they issued five 45's 1966-69, plowing through genres as freak beat, mod rock and psych pop. I'm not familiar with how they went from doing major label singles to release an album on the most notorious British budget label, but maybe Fontana dropped them, they felt they had more to give and Saga was the only option. And why not? In fact this doesn't sound Saga at all. Instead of the for the label too common outcome, often including amateurish, unproduced, badly arranged and unbalanced audio you get a very well done pop (psych?) album with surprisingly fine audio. If I didn't know better I'd guess originally recorded for Fontana -67 or -68, then for some reason put away till picked up and finally released by Saga. Well maybe not, but that's how it sounds. Anyway this is good. Four tracks penned by the band, two by Aw, the rest cover versions. Arranged by band friend Richard Hartley from the group "Fire". Style a blend of British psych pop and American summer of love. Soft without being mellow. Vocals are beautiful, especially the background quires, bright and soothing with some high pitch here and there. Good listening all through though without any obvious hit feeling. The cuts with most potential would be the self-penned "Open Up Your Eyes", slightly reminding of The Turtles yet firmly stuck in British soil, or the "There Ain't No Use In Hangin' On" cover - already a pop psych marvel with Marmalade, but this is very catchy too. In all in a way rather typical for British late sixties - some baroque pop, some folk pop and some just pop - all kind of soft but with a built-in positive feeling I can't resist. So if you like that style and don't mind it being from an odd outfit on an odd label it's highly recommended. Spanish 2010 vinyl reissue on Wah Wah Records (LPS 086). Don't know of any CD release. Premiere UK had label as shown here, thick unflexible vinyl, thin laminated cover with "Saga" inner and very early also a "promo" pic/info insert missing with this copy. (SÄGÖ*)