(The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - all good clean fun . . .sort of)

Okay, this is a slight cheat tonight. The album this cut comes from has been reissued (thank God) by at least one label, but I forgot about that as I was playing the lp and remembering how great they were when I saw them live a couple of lifetimes ago.

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (or WCPAEB . .but even that was a mouthful when you were stoned) were something of a phenomenon as far as West Coast psychedelia were concerned. They looked like your quintessential surf band, only on acid. And even though on the surface they could sound pretty tuneful and innocent, they were insane - but in a good sense. There was a lot behind the band rather than the effect and the fuzz.

This track "Smell of Incense" is a classic and it's off their second album for Warner/Reprise issued in 1968. They would go on to do a few more albums, with personnel and label changes, but would never achieve household name status.

Thanks to reissues they've gotten an audience who had never heard of them before and a newfound appreciation of people who missed them the first time around.

Further evidence good music is timeless.