A mysterious figure of the late '60s who put out an interesting
eponymous album on the names-can-be-deceptive Chartmaker label. With his
funky, keyboard-based rock and full, soulful vocals, Darius sounded like a more eccentric and far moodier, doomier counterpart to Lee Michaels.
The record was imaginatively arranged and produced, with flourishes of
flamenco guitar, odd echo-tinkles, and some dynamic organ and bass hooks
adding to its overall air of idiosyncrasy. It's little known, even
among psychedelic collectors, and worthy of exhumation on CD reissue.(allmusic.com)
Darius:
"I feel so bad," sings Darius
with an air of resigned desperation near the end of the opening cut,
"Shades of Blue," before closing the song with a truly memorable
larynx-shredding scream. That sets the tone for this weird little
mini-gem, a kind of downbeat psychedelic anomaly that nevertheless
boasts some nifty melodic hooks and tight, exuberant playing. Darius
delivers his trippy but anxious tunes with a powerful, fetching grit,
bolstered by pungent organ and piano arrangements.
There's a curious air
of mystical disorientation on this obscurity, which deserves a wider
hearing. The 2001 CD reissue, as a German import on World in Sound, adds
three previously unreleased cuts, also recorded in 1969. These aren't
quite up to the same level as the rest of the songs, and one, "Peace
& Love," sounds like an instrumental backing track missing the
vocal.
Darius II :
Darius
was one of the better obscure late-'60s psychedelic singers who did
only one album. So this release of 15 previously unreleased songs -- all
recorded between 1967-1971, though not many other details are given on
this disc -- is quite welcome. The material's pretty good, too, though
not as sharply refined and hard-hitting in its impact as the sole,
self-titled Darius album. Darius
really did have an unusual mix of flavors, leaning toward folk-rockish
tunes and philosophical lyrics of tense introspection and confusion.
Yet
he had quite a blue-eyed soulful voice, one capable of both a hurtful
quaver and keening screams, and also had a good knack for romantic pop
melodic hooks. Though the production quality and songwriting are uneven,
all of these qualities are out in force through most of Darius II,
whether it's the gutbucket soul-folk of "Don't You Get the Feelin'"
(heard here in two versions); the foreboding acoustic acid folk of "New
Start," "Best Girl," and "No One Like You"; or the comparatively
jubilant soul-pop of "I Don't Mind" and "Summer Is Over." "44th Floor"
borrows very liberally from the soul classic "I've Been Loving You Too
Long," but enjoyably so, while "Beauty" is breezy, downbeat
jazz-soul/pop, if that doesn't sound like too many adjectives to fit
into one tune.
"For Now I Love You" is excellent, moody late-'60s acid
folk-pop, melodically similar to Three Dog Night's "Easy to Be Hard," but texturally far more similar to the bent, orchestral psych-folk-rock of his friend Bobby Jameson. And the cover of Barbara Lewis'
classic "Hello Stranger" is quite cool, with its imaginative,
unclassifiably weird organ-synthesizer-like sounds. Only intense
collectors are going to end up hearing this record, but unlike the bulk
of such collections, this really is worth hearing by less-specialized
listeners who'd like to catch up on a significant -- and accessible --
late-'60s talent who somehow missed getting his music out in significant
numbers.(R. Unterberger allmusic.com)
I love both releases but maybe the Darius II a little more. Some really killer songs here (on both).
Enjoy
SB1
Darius Flac p1 &
Darius Flac p2 Darius mp3 -
Darius II Flac p1 &
Darius II Flac p2 Darius II mp3
The sequencing is roughly
chronological, with each of the three discs spotlighting a different
era, then sequenced for maximum listenability within that -- so "10538
Overture" segues to "Showdown" and "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" then doubles back to
the first album. It's a gambit that works, since Flashback winds up flowing as gracefully as ELO's
best albums. And, make no mistake, this is one of their best albums, a
rare box set that satisfies the needs of both casual and mildly
dedicated fans, while offering the hardcore not just a bunch of rarities
but an enjoyable album with its own character. So, it trumps Afterglow in every possible way, then, and thereby eliminates the need for yet another three-disc ELO box.(allmusic.com)
