Introspection: A Faine Jade Recital
five starsOne of the highly collectable LPs of the 1960s,Introspection: A  Faine Jade Recital is available on a CD remastered from the original tapes  with two added tracks; a Sundazed LP using high quality vinyl has been  simultaneously issued, minus the bonus cuts. TheIntrospectionLP comprises 10 songs that make up a minimalist  psychedelic masterpiece. Using a few overdubs, the recording relies on the  five-piece instrumental lineup behind Jade's decidedly Anglicized Long  Island accent. The opening "Doctor Paul Overture" sets the stage for an  album bursting with curiously of-center British-influenced psychedelic pop.  "People Play Games" reveals Jade's hippie-era lyricism magic lanterns,  scarlet scissors, and crystal cornucopia, while its percussive intro and  jungle play-out suggests The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." "Ballad Of  The Bad Guys" has a garage attack that benefits its title; A Brand New  Groove" features a guitar riff that could have worked for the Rolling  Stones; "Don't Hassle Me" proclaims the generation- gap chorus; "No-o-o!  Don't you hassle me/ I'm trying to be young/ I'm trying to be free."   The title track "Introspection" leans toward a catchy folk rock, while  "Cold Winter Sun" allows Manzi to repeat a lick echoing "Than He Kissed Me"  before launching into a clearly mismatched power trio vamp. Jade enshrines  his Brit-pop-folk-garage rock influences in the imaginative "I Live  Tomorrow Yesterday," an upbeat number that sounds like a hit single. "Grand  Finale", a five-minute instrumental experiment, closes the LP with a  layered mix of effects, backward tracking, and studio dissonance. --Goldminefour starsFaine Jade's lone full-length release, 1968'sIntrospection: A Faine  Jade Recital, ranks as one of the most highly-coveted lost psych  classics, and it's obvious why. Fronting a sparse combo complemented by a  distant droning organ, the bespectacled Jade (born Chuck Laskowski in Long  Island, New York) sings quirky, melodic tunes drenched in the flavour of  their time.  The feel is tense and fractured, with stabs of trebly guitar  and jittery percussion, but the songwriting remains pithy and pop-radio  accessible. Opening number, Doctor Paul Overture, a wide-eyed psychedelic character  portrait, immediately calls to mind Syd Barrett-era Floyd, the most obvious  influence throughout (surprisingly, Jade claims he hadn't heard of Barrett  at the time of recording). Ballad Of The Bad Guys, meanwhile, careens with  an angry psych-punk momentum reminiscent of early Love. But it's the  album's title track that offers the finest evidence of Jade's melodic  gifts. A twinkling, frosty ballad lined with shaking tambourine, it lifts  into an elegant, inevitable pop-dream chorus: "Introspection," Jade sings  dispassionately, "what am I really like inside?"  This excellent reissue also includes detailed liner notes, a small feast of  photos and two worthwhile bonus cuts culled from a non-LP single. Psych  lovers take note. Michael Saltzman --Record Collector