The Gentle Soul
THE GENTLE SOUL
BOTH SUNDAZED
The Cyrkle’s last outing was the soundtrack for a soft-porn spy movie. Made in 1967, it took another couple of years to get released, and by then must have sounded woefully dated, since what you get here is an uneasy blend of mid-’60s sounds:so-so beat group pop, bossa nova and surf instrumentals. Odd, but not quite odd enough.
The Gentle Soul, however, are a find. The folk-rock duo of Rick Stanley and Pamela Polland operated in LA in the late ’60s, and recorded just one LP and a clutch of singles (all collected here) in ’68. Their exquisite harmonies echo The Byrds and The Mamas & The Papas, the songs are a mix of folksy blues and baroque psychedelia, and the backing musicians include Van Dyke Parks and Ry Cood