Sometime during the late 80's or early 90's I got hold of a bootleg version of Pussy's sole LP Pussy Plays, a rare heavy psych album from the late 60's which became something of a favorite of mine. Many years later I came across an official double CD reissue including a second album by Fortes Mentum (FM); the double-sided booklet allowed the listener to put either cover on the front. FM were a studio group formed by Morgan Studio's songwriter/arranger Danny Beckerman. Initially he wasn't going to be part of the band, but apparently he got along with them so well that he joined them on piano. The others were guitarist Barry Clark, vocalist Frank Bennett, bassist Ron Regan, drummer Keith Giles, and organist Alan Ward. Disc One of this compilation contains a remastered version of the Pussy Plays album plus two demos of "Come Back June" and "We Built the Sun", attributed to Fortes Mentum but actually only featuring Beckerman and Clark, the two FM members that continued as Pussy. You can read my review of Pussy Plays on another post, so I'll start right away with Disc 2 which contains what appears to be the entire recorded output of FM: the A- and B- sides of their 3 singles, plus alternate takes and outtakes. These are not demos but complete, perfectly produced, songs. FM were a much more lightweight band compared to Pussy, the only common points being some semi-classical elements and the elaborate production. Their music is a sort of baroque pop psychedelia with quirky lyrics. Inspired partly by Victorian aesthetics and the English music hall tradition, and partly by The Beatles who had scattered similar songs among their albums of the era, some bands embraced that sound wholesale. I think Jeff Lynn's Idle Race is the most typical of the bunch, but there were others e.g. Kippington Lodge, Move, Bonzo Dog Band, early Tyrannosaurus Rex etc. FM's debut single was probably their best: A-side "Saga of a Wrinkled Man" is reminiscent of Simon Dupree's hit "Kites" while B-side "Mr. Partridge Passed Away Today" features nice harmonies, piano and the ever-present here strings. The drumming on the album is also notably good. "I Can't Go On Loving You", "I Love Loving You" and "Baby You Gotta Stay" provide pop soul similar to early Bee Gees, while some of the best moments come from their richly orchestrated ballads: "Gotta Go", "The Man Who Understands", and "I Could Have Loved Her" will remind you of The Moody Blues. The upbeat tracks, though, sound positively overproduced. "Marrakesh" has a charming exotic flavor, and "I Maybe Napoleon (Napoleon)" and "Green Mello Hill" are listenable psych pop, but the likes of "Harry The Keeper" and "Humdiggle We Love You" are too whimsical bordering on silly. All in all, Disc 2 contains 18 songs, some in multiple versions. By keeping one version of each song, one arrives at what would have had the typical duration for an LP of the era, justifying the disc's subtitle "the album that never was". If it was released at the time, it may have been talked about as a companion LP to Idle Races' Birthday Party or Keith West's Excerpts From A Teenage Opera. If that's your kind of thing, it's worth searching for this particular compilation. I personally don't think I'll be playing Disc 2 again, unlike Pussy Plays which returns to my turntable almost every year.
Pussy Come Back June*****, All of My Life*****, We Built the Sun****, Comets***, Tragedy in F Minor****, The Open Ground****, Everybody's Song****, G.E.A.B.****
Fortes Mentum Come Back June****, We Built the Sun****, Saga of a Wrinkled Man****, Mr. Partridge Passed Away Today****, I Can't Go on Loving You***, Humdiggle We Love You***, Gotta Go****, Marrakesh***, Green Mello Hill***, Baby You Gotta Stay***, I Love Loving You**, The Man That Understands**, I Maybe Napoleon (Napolean)***, I Could Have Loved Her**, Harry the Keeper**
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