Watercolor by Charles M. Russell, printed in The Pronghorn Antelope and Its Management, 1948
A Passing Fancy were one of the underrated psych-rock bands operating in the Toronto area in the late '60s. They had a couple minor hits, "I'm Losing Tonight", "I Believe in Sunshine", and "You're Going Out of My Mind", all of which are found on their self-titled LP from 1968. The album is surprisingly cohesive, considering that it is a cobbled-together collection of songs written by two completely different lineups of the band.
The original A Passing Fancy grew up around songwriter Jay Telfer and keyboardist Brian Price - Telfer wrote A Passing Fancy's early songs and helped to build the band's reputation as an impressive live band. When the band's singles failed to materialize into hits, the band's management fired Telfer (they could do that?!?), replacing him with Fergus Hambleton, whose lineup of the band was responsible for the band's more "sunshine-pop" songs like "Island" and "Under the Bridge". After the second lineup of A Passing Fancy dissolved, the band's managers released the LP using the tracks from the singles and a couple others that had been recorded. The album is not as scattershot-sounding as its pedigree might suggest, but it does display a good variety of styles, from the band's first garage-y singles and the acid-rock "Your Trip" to the twee "I Believe in Sunshine" and "Little Boys for Little Girls". My favorite track is the album's title track, which is one of those songs named after a band on an eponymous album (like "Living in a Box" and "Black Sabbath").
"A Passing Fancy" by A Passing Fancy
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