Misunderstood: Golden Glass

FuzzLogic.com - Van der Graaf Generations

Record Review Reprint

Forced Exposure, 7/8-1985, page 69:

The previous (equally posthumous) LP by this CA SIX-OH group, Before The Dread Faded, was truly dab pile o' the Anglo (released & styled even if the were authentic Americans) psych material that made these laddies faves w/such baldos's John Peel. These two disks're primarily evidence o' what remained of 'em after the draft decimated the original line-up & a new combo was put together by Glenn Ross Campbell. The 12" has the great seven & a half min. psych out o' GG itself backed w/a coupla rat-excessive R&B covers cut as a demo in '66 (the gtr solo on I'm Not Talkin' matches Randy Holden's wodk w/the Other Half for pure uncalled-for sustain) &'s a pretty worthy thing. The LP's a whole lot more ordinary. Caught between CA psych & UK blooze, they choose t'be neither & it's hard t'think o' this as great shakes. Interestin', I guess, for its use o' Van der Graf Generato's rhythm section, but I'd advise stickin' t' the 12".

Option, D2-1985, page 65:

The Misunderstood were perhaps the greatest obscure sixties psychedelic group, as a reissue of ther 1965-66 material (Before The Dread Faded, still available on Cherry Red) proves, but were forced to disband prematurely due to draft and immigration problems. In 1969, a new Misunderstood was reformed that featured lead guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell as the sole remaingin member of the 1966 lineup. On one level it's above average blues rock, with Campbell occasionally spitting out some commendably fluid and piercing steel whines (not nearly as otherworldly as his other work, though), and the 7:40 Golden Glass has touches of that vintage bygone psychedelia. On another level, it's a sad footnote to the memory of a great group whose promise went unfulfilled; this lineup is barely a pale shadow, with crazed inspiration giving way to forced overwrought heaviness. The EP (also called Golden Glass) is more palatable ; one side is Golden Glass again, but the other features two otherwise unavailable acetates of the original group from early 1966: an energic Shake Your Moneymaker and a great I'm Not Talking with a wild extended feedback break (not the same version as the one on Before The Dread Faded).