The Electric Ferrets - The Electric Ferrets Psychedelic Punk Rock Band

 The Electric Ferrets started out in the 90's LA underground scene as a wild'n'wacky punk rock'n'roll band that had a penchant for pop culture, 60's garage, 70's rock and whatever else caught their eyes'n'ears. Led by vocalist Greg Wallace and guitarist Flying Ike (along with current Las Vegas resident Kevin Ball on second guitar), they gigged'n'recorded for a number of years until real life interfered and the group dissolved. They reformed a little while back and cut this 2-LP epic that the always hip Get Hip Records has now released in all its glory.

While the guys continue to mine pop culture (particularly 50's and 60's) and garage rock'n'roll, on this release they also delve heavily into psychedelia and loosely parody Sgt. Peppers (in their music and album cover), among innumerable other concepts. The opening title cut is obviously based on Sgt. Peppers, but with enough originality to make it weirdly different, especially the autobiographical lyrics and the truly psychedelic extended ending. "Psychedelic Biplane" is pretty damn trippy, as well, in a far-out, late-60's rockin' kinda way, then "Turn On" is frantically punk-oriented as is "Vice Grip", but both have extra elements as well to keep them from being cliches. "In the Forest of the Green" they get downright spaghetti-western-y in a dramatic, mellower way with a sweet, fuzzed-out guitar solo and for "Martin Grimm" the sound is very late-60's in a kinda/sorta post-mod manner, with a wacky haunted-house middle break. 

And, all that is just from side one of this double album set! From there we get a sci-fi soundtrack in need of a film in "Attack of the Giant Lobsters From the Deep" (dig the guitar solo on this one!), a mid-tempo garage rocker with "I Want to Be Like Jill", they're downright funky in "The Struggle is Real" (although it turns into punk rock'n'back again), then almost hard core for "Open Your Mind", wildly veering into early 70's mellow/keyboard/semi-schmaltz that becomes a bit psychotic for "Is There Another Day", more pop culture garage in "The Incredible Shrinking Man", and a bit of piano-pop-psych for "Breakfast in Bed". 

Frantically ripping off the Blues Brothers intro ("I Can't Turn You Loose"), side three starts with "L.A. Song" which ends up parodying other soul hits, as well, while "Together For Eternity" is kinda mellow 60's-pop, there's a quick bit of punk rock in "Chuckleland", while "Nadia" sounds like 70's AM radio fare and then they blast thru the garage classic "Voices Green and Purple" although, bizarrely, mixing in Kiss' "Detroit Rock City"! Somehow, it works, although damned if I know how! It delves into a lengthy, tripped out instro section before the big 70's rock finish!

More trippiness in "I See Colors" (complete with sitar!), echo-drenched/tremelo'd guitars dominate "The Sun Is Coming Out Today" (slightly reminiscent of a more druggy "Sun Arise"), back to the punk rock for the retro fantasy "Rock and Roll Dreams From the Seventies", followed by a country-ish power ballad tribute to their guitarist, "A Day in the Ike", then a reprise of the title track, which does not end the album, but the finale is the hard rockin'/surfy epic "Ride the Wave".

As I said, the Ferrets always appreciated 60's pop culture and rock'n'roll, but here they truly do blend psychedelic trippiness and punk rock - among other things - in a wackily original way. Not for purists of either (or any!) form, but for the adventurous, this is a fun-filled odyssey. Good luck trying to guess how many pop references are made in the fold-out cover art, as well!