The Baroques - Tangerine Sunset (1968)

The Complete Unknowns formed in 1966, with Rick Bieniewski on bass guitar, Jacques Hutchinson on lead guitar and vocals, and Dean Nimmer and Wayne Will both playing the drums. They began as a garage rock band playing the popular songs associated with the genre during the period, but following their first tour in Wisconsin, Will was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, so the band replaced him with multi-instrumentalist Jay Borkenhagen. With the new member, the band shifted their musical identity to encompass psychedelic rock, and changed the group name to The Baroques. The band's live performances drew the attention of Chess Records, and although they were primarily known for releasing R&B material, they signed the band in an effort to incorporate a new marketing opportunity. They went to record their debut single in Ter Mer Studios, located in Chicago, and 'Mary Jane'/'Iowa, A Girl's Name' was released in June 1967 to a universal ban by local radio stations for perceived pro-drug references. In reality, there were no pro-drug references in the song, and it was actually intended as an anti-drug statement. The controversy brought regional acclaim for the band, and soon they became known for their eccentric live performances. They recorded their sole album shortly after the single release, with 'The Baroques' emerging later that year. The album's twelve tracks, mostly written by 18-year-old baritone Jay Borkenhagen, include the nightmarish 'The Song Needs No Introduction', with a boy screaming for his mother, and a demented take of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', as well as the cartoonish, groovy instrumental 'Boop'. The Nimmer-penned 'In Silver Light' is about a monk freezing to death. The album became a regional hit, but the band were unable to consolidate on this success nationally, as Chess were not known for rock albums, let alone psychedelic ones. Following the lack of success of the record, they were dropped by Chess, but because they were still at the peak of their popularity and were performing in an increased amount of gigs, they decided to self-finance one last locally-acclaimed single, after which the band broke up in 1968. In 1995 the 'Purple Day' compilation album was released, which is when I first heard them, and straight away songs like 'A Musical Tribute To The Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon' and 'Iowa, A Girl's Name' stood them apart from other psychedelic bands of the era. All of their songs were great acid-tinged rockers, and there were enough out-takes and unreleased songs to put together another complete album from the band, which is what we have here. As it stood it was a bit short, although probably not for the time that it came from, so I've added a couple of alternate takes of those two afore-mentioned songs, which are still my favourites from this criminally neglected psychedelic rock band.  

Track listing

01 Baroques Theme  
02 At The Garden Gate
03 Sunflowers 
04 Death Of An Onion  
05 Flying Machine  
06 Beckwith  
07 Hand
08 I Will Not Touch You (single A-side, 1968) 
09 Remember (single B-side, 1968)  

10 Tangerine Sunset
11 A Musical Tribute To The Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon (alternate take)
12 Iowa, A Girl's Name (alternate take)