The Nice - The Cry Of Eugene - Original

The Nice The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (1968) Genre: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic The Nice were another late 60's psychedelic group that helped bridge the gap between psych and prog. The way they combined classical music sounds with hard rock proved to be incredibly influential to the development of prog as well as early heavy metal. Organ heavy hard rock bands like Deep Purple and Black Widow, were certainly influenced by these guys. Besides their own output, the band is known for being Keith Emerson's first band. After a few years he would leave to found Emerson Lake & Palmer. "The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack" was the group's first full length, released at the tail end of 1967. It features a cool combination of the dreamy pyschedelic tracks like "Flower King Of Flies" and "The Cry Of Eugene" with instrumental freakouts like "Rondo" and "War And Peace". The album reminds me of Pink Floyd's debut which was released around the same time. Floyd's 10 minute long "Interstellar Overdrive" is comparable to the 8 minute jam "Rondo, with the significant difference being how one jam evokes a spacey feel while the other a classical. "Flower King Of Flies" is a particularly special track, and I would even call it one of the standouts of the psychedelic era. It's combination of subtle Satanic lyrics, dreamy production, and Emerson's Hendrix like freakouts was certainly unique for the time.