30 Milligrams of Your Love
(Resonance Records)
psychodaisies.com
This album by the Psycho Daisies is the band's third. It follows a wild opening record for long-gone Dutch label Resonance Records, which signed them in 1991 for Sonicly Speaking. The party continues in this album with the dearly departed Johnny Salton tearing it up on guitar and vocals. Marco Pettit, along with Salton, is the only Daisy left from previous recordings, and he handles the bass and vocals along with Pete Moss' drums, making the group technically a three-piece. The revered Charlie Pickett lent his vocals for the sinful romp of "Religion or Pleasure."
That was the genius of the guitar in Salton's hand. This is the kind of riffage that is performed with clenched, painful eyes and nimble fingers. Rock 'n' roll dexterity, if you will. Even the rhythm section has something creepy and rock-steady about it; if the goal was to induce a certain kind of paranoid conceptualization, consider it achieved. This is not an album you drop in the middle of a party; this is an album you play while you reflect.
Opener "Lover Girl" segues well into the romantic notes of "30 Milligrams of Your Love," which I've always assumed to be a humorous nod to the Loving Spoonful but with the grittier bop of a Yardbirds' take. This continues with "She Takes Love" which plays into the aforementioned ambiance of the record before the middle punch of introspective numbers like "Welcome to Nowhere" (which fills me with Miami pride), "Went to Sleep," and the piece with Pickett. "Too Much Fun" isn't that, as a matter of fact; it's not enough fun. This track certainly harks back to Salton's blues-punk roots and gives a jolt to the senses before closing out with the broody "Love Supreme," which, as one of the longer jams on the record and perhaps a salute to John Coltrane, sums up the entire effort succinctly.
This album was recorded in 1992 at L-7 Studios. Aside from the sad note of Johnny passing away last week, it is worthy to note that both Pete Moss and Marco Pettit passed away in the '90s. This can still be purchased through the band's website, and I do seriously suggest you get yourself a copy. I'm not sure if it will be a CDR or an actual original, but the ten-dollar asking price seems fair to me. Very fair.
Love Supreme
