Here’s another Swan Fungus exclusive. In fact, this album has flown so far under the radar that the only web search that seems to provide details about the record is a completed eBay listing from last year (the record sold for $300). That’s pretty much it. Other than that, this record (or is a demo?) is completely unknown.
I shouldn’t say “completely unknown,” because the New York Public Library (NY, NY 10018) current holds a copy of this record in its “Jazz” LP section.
Also, a quick look at US patent records indicates that in 1971 Gordon Rose tried to register “Generation Gap Products, Inc.” as a “service mark for singing group entertainment services” but it was refused on the grounds that… I don’t understand. If only I had gone to law school like my parents wanted! Silly me, I had to get a liberal arts degree! Oh well. At least that gives us a time frame for when Look At The Look was recorded. If you’re searching for an exact date, perhaps the best I can offer is the January 9th, 1971 issue of Billboard magazine, which carries a very tiny blurb about the track “Shoo, Fly!” (production credits to Generation Gap & Don Sebeski, writing credits Rose-Miller). Billboard said of the song, “Infectious rhythm ballad loaded with Top 40 and Easy Listening programming appeal that could easily prove a left-field smash. Smooth performance.”
So, how’s the music?
Well…it’s it’s, uh, unique. Side A is labeled the “The Groove Side” and opens with the aforementioned “Shoo, Fly!”, a chill, sunshine-y number with male/female harmonies that sounds a bit like a third-rate Free Design. The next cut, “Ballad of Honey Brown,” is white-boy funk meets psych, as Rose is accompanied by a brass section as well as some ill-timed strings. Suddenly he starts exlcaiming, “God bless America!” in the a melodramatic twist that sounds completely out of place. And then he chuckles…on tape. It’s been ten minutes and Look At The Look is starting to sound like the soundtrack to a ’60s stoner theatrical production. “Don’t You Fall In Love With Me,” the bouncy strings-rich “Willie Come Home,” and the closing number “J. Blues” are all over-composed, sophomoric art-pop. It’s as if Rose saw Hair for the first time and thought, “I could do this!” Only he couldn’t.
These are not exactly your typical Broadway lyrical themes. There’s a song about losing your parking space. One song includes this lyrical gem: “With a little chicken noodle, black eyed peas and apple strudel / White man, black man, try to keep it cool / I got the new that the Jews invented the blues.” Concentrate on the lyrics for more than five seconds at a time and each song sounds like a bizarre free-association rant.
Side B is labeled “The Trip Side.” It too contains five songs. The opening song, “A Storm That Is Quiet,” might be good if it had kept going with the creepy psych vibe that opens the song. Instead it shifts to a major-key and the mood is killed. Same holds true for the next track, “Don’t Stand By My Grave,” which somehow manages to move from eerie psych to funk in a heartbeat — and no, the disc isn’t scratched — which sounds, again, like a bad musical number that was axed from Hair before the show opened. “Witches Of Reality” is the closest the album comes to true drugged-out psychedelic music, until the three-and-a-half minute mark. Then the horns start to blare. Oh well. There are some crazy spaced-out effects on the title track, “Look At The Look,” which is about…uh…plastic nipples? I’m not kidding. So weird.
Hmm…What to make of Look At The Look by Gordon Rose? Was this really written as a demo for a musical that never made it to the stage? Was it simply a collection of songs written by a guy who thought he could find the perfect combination of psych and funk? Did Gordon Rose realize how outside the mainstream these songs were before mass-producing the record? So many questions persist, and so little information exists about the record. For that reason I’m simply uploading one sample track (as opposed to the full album). There are so many questions about the history of this artist and album, I hope posting some info about it will inevitably lead me to the answers.
Gordon Rose
Look At The Look
(Generation Gap, 1971)
01. Shoo, Fly! [MP3]
02. The Ballad Of Honey Brown
03. Don’t You Fall In Love With Me
04. Willie, Come Home
05. J. Blues
06. A Storm That Is Quiet
07. Don’t Stand By My Grave
08. Witches Of Reality
09. Out There
10. Look At The Look
[Edit: Thank you reader Matt for your help uncovering the correct title/label!]
