It's New to Me: Elephants Memory by Elephants Memory (1969)

Illustration of Pat Tracy from the Purdue Debris annual, 1903

The psychedelic jazz-rock combo Elephants Memory is almost as interesting for the weird trivia surrounding it as it is for its fried, horn-inflected rock. Here's a few little nuggets: 1) Carly Simon was in the band's original lineup and contributed to some of the songs on their 1969 debut but the songs had their lyrics changed after she left the group; 2) the band's debut record didn't sell well at all (they were on the famous bubblegum pop label Buddah Records for some reason) but they went on to have songs on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack and played as John and Yoko's backing band on the Some Time in New York City album; 3) their debut album was produced by Wes Farrell in between his gigs producing for two family groups, the real-family Cowsills and not-real Cowsill-imitators the Partridge Family; and 4) vocalist Michal Shapiro left the band after the debut album to pursue other interests, including painting - her painting Butternut hangs in Don Draper's album on the TV show Mad Men.

Oh, and they also made a very weird pop record in 1969. With a wide variety of instruments and styles at their disposal, Elephants Memory seem to have been determined to squeeze all their favorite sounds into eleven tracks. Coming off somewhere in between a more wacked-out Bonzo Dog Band and a gentler Mothers of Invention, Elephants Memory features a lot of horn-heavy acid rock, mixed with some more atmospheric tracks (like the epic "Old Man Willow") and a couple straightforward pop songs. "Crossroads of the Stepping Stones" is a nice slice of sunshine pop that doesn't belong anywhere on the album, assuming any of these tracks really "belongs".

The disparate and sometimes grating stylistic shifts are a little much, and the band's lyrics often cross the hazy line between "psych-pop nonsense" and "stupid-sounding nonsense". Also, where Michal Shapiro does an adequate job as a Carly Simon stand-in, male vocalist Stan Bronstein isn't great. Although I'll admit that I like his singing on some of the odder tracks, like the ragtime-on-speed weirdness of "Yogurt Song". It's not really a song that's representative of the album as a whole, but none of these songs really are. And, lyrically, it's one of the more enjoyable moments on the record - how can you hate a line like, "They know I'm high on yogurt pie"?

"Yogurt Song" by Elephants Memory