The Pynnacles - My Oblivion

Also hailing for Portland (home of the incredible Miracle Workers, so the water system must flow through the garages there), is another modern garage/psych combo, the Pynnacles. Featuring old buddy (and amazing drummer) Thom (Sullivan) Pynnacle, this outfit also includes Sean Pynnacle on vocals, Scott Pynnacle on guitar, Dave Pynnacle on guitar and vocals, Tamar Pynnacle on organ and vocals and John Pynnacle on bass. Big band, big sound and ultra groovy!

Starting with a blast of fuzz and Thom's stompin' beat (accented by handclaps), "Consortium of Friends" blooms into a keyboard-filled combination of the Small Faces and the Creation! Steve Marriott-styled vocals and Creation harmonies, trade-off guitars and an incessant dance groove! Whew! What an opening! "She's Not Coming Back" incorporates pretty much all of the best of the 60's all in one tune - more power rhythms, jangly guitar lines, fuzz'n'keys (great Nick Mason-ish solo) and fine melodies and harmonies. Mickey Finn's "Garden of my Mind" is given another great reading (check out the Droogs and the Embryonics for others fantastic takes) - dig the biting, wild-ass guitar here! - followed by Hamilton Streetcar's "Invisible People". That same, classic four chord progression that I was just talking about is revived again for another fresh take, complete with rave-up in "Teacher Teacher" and then they slow it down for the melancholy, minor-key "You Best Realize" that explodes into a fuzz-rocker ala the Shadows of Knight's version of "Bad Little Woman", showing a great use of dynamics'n'skill'n'crazy shriekin'!

Back to the rockin' garage in "Tom Blood's Blues", sounding a bit like the Lollipop Shoppe (dig the Fred Cole-styled vocals!), and then they pull out the 12-string for the folk-rock of "Mourning Rain", with neat harpsichord-ish keys and melodic solos. The Marauders "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" is a raw raver here, "She's Right" is a frantic piece of garage-punk, "The Ghoul" is another organ-fueled bit of garage while "Last Man on Earth" takes the Troggs' "Lost Girl" riff and builds it into an outstanding psych-rocker!

Man, good to know that there are still terrific garage rock'n'roll bands in the country with real talent and true songwriting skills! Portland seems to be one of the places to be (along with San Diego) for modern 60's styled r'n'r!