Not even in the top 100 for 1968?? That's a crime. Here's a tip: if tweeness isn't really your bag, maybe you shouldn't be listening to British psychedelia and giving it all 2.5 star ratings. Come on, that's anti-help!

Along with Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, Tomorrow is considered one of the great bands of the London psychedelic underground, i.e. a true innovator of the genre that emerged essentially fully formed as a psychedelic band (not completely true in any of the 3 cases but close enough). Tomorrow is by far the least remembered of the 3 , perhaps because they lack the exploratory, improvisational freakouts of Floyd and the Softs, preferring relatively concise songwriting, making them seem to be the most pop-oriented in the grouping. They were, however, in many just as daring and confident.

The greatness of Tomorrow and their sole 1968 album lies in the fact that the band is pulling itself in several different directions at once, directions that never really gel with each other. At the same time as this album was being made, vocalist and chief songwriter Keith West and producer Mark Wirtz were crafting one of the greatest (and most popular) Toytown singles of all time in Excerpt from a Teenage Opera. Toytown wasn't really bassist Junior's and drummer Twink's bag, as they were predisposed towards hard rock and, seemingly, lunacy (check Aquarian Age and early Pink Fairies). And guitarist Steve Howe was more than content to sit in the corner and virtuosically noodle away while everyone else fought it out.

All of this added up to an eclectic album to say the least. Starting with psych nugget stalwart My White Bicycle, leading into Toytown gem Colonel Brown and sitar and guitar noodle-fest Real Life Permanent Dream. Elsewhere there's more wonderful Toytown (Shy Boy), hard rock (Revolution, fantastic stripped-down Strawberry Fields), expert guitar workouts (Now Your Time Has Come), and just plain weirdness (Three Jolly Little Dwarfs, the punkiest song about dwarves you're ever likely to hear). A diverse, thrilling album that will hold your attention all the way through.

I suppose it's not too surprising that Tomorrow are still not easily understood; they weren't really at the time either. I imagine all the hard psych heads at Middle Earth didn't really know what to do when the group went from Revolution into Auntie Mary's Dress Shop.

I also like the cover art depicting a maniacal "Weather Professor" who is really into clouds and wants you to know about it. My question: how are his legs so long? by MarcFeld