WEST MINIST'R, 'Sister Jane,' b/w ' I Want You' (Magic, 1972)
EDIT: Wow. I barely remember writing this; that's how drunk I was. Also, frankly, I have no idea what I was trying to say with most of it. Pretty workmanlike through about the first two paragraphs. Then...when the allusions to Simon & Garfunkel lyrics and the Roman Empire begin, I can only assume by that point I had decided to let the Courvoisier do the talking. Can't really stand by the words - as they're mostly gibberish - but I more than stand by the tunes.
Sorry guys!
I admit it: I made that release date (above) up.
However, as Fort Dodge, Iowa's windiest sons seem to excrete their 45 rpm releases in and/or around-two-to-three-year-intervals, I think the scientific method is (more than/or less) on my side.
A great foot-in-cold-water, raft-ride down a lysergic delta of tangerine tides, these future HAWKS offer an A-side soundtrack that sublimely recreates the immediate, post-psilocybin or diethylamide twelve-string diurnal chorus reflective of too much time spent examining 'White Album' matrix numbers and not enough time listening to the guidance of Arthur Alexander (i.e. 'You Better Move On').
Which is GREAT!
That said, this may be the peak of the early-70s, late-to-the-party 60s-revival sound. On these two sides, WEST MINIST'R are immediately and eminently more believable as Limeys than either THE RASPBERRIES or BLUE ASH.
Why? Because of their isolation. E. Carmen with his hair in rollers at the top of the charts could never cop or front to being either a rock or an island.
WEST MINIST'R are both; which is why they are the TRUE Monsters Of The Midwest, even if they've never physically beheld either the tower of Big Ben or the rosy red cheeks of the little children.
Or something.
Rare, precious and beautiful. Dutiful even. Though the command structure therein cries out for reevaulation louder than even the first triumvirate.
Which is no matter '...won't you gimme some time?'
'Sister Jane'
'I Want You'
