When I first saw the cover of the new The Wave Pictures album (and there is quite a few of them), something kept nagging at me it seemed so familiar and at the same time new. At one moment it hit me: Oh its this one! And the cover of Clear Light's album form 1967 pops in front of my eyes (check it out on Allmusic or anywhere else). Clear Light themselves were a great, short-lived LA band from the late Sixties who issued only one album (luckily, recently reissued), who had a varied psychedelic sound, rooted in its day, but that still sounds fresh today.
Now, The Wave Pictures, might have never seen this cover, they might have done it accidentally, but having in mind that they themselves are avid fans of the Sixties sound, that is quite improbable.
Not that their music, particularly on this album, “Bamboo Diner In the Rain” (these three guys from a remote English village always had a great sense of humour), in any way resembles that from the Clear Light album. If any reference is to be made with the Sixties, it is more akin to Creedence Clearwater Revival (and that is a good thing!) than Clear Light.
But that spirit of variation and experimentation that Clear Light had is there, even if it is only three guys playing ‘simple’ music (something, as BB King would say, is the hardest thing to do). Whether it is the surf music intro number “Panama Hat”, John Fahey inspired “Bamboo Diner Rag” or the CCR inspired, with not such a LA vibe titled number “Newcastle Rain”.
To some familiar with more recent names, they might sound like Herman Dunne or Darren Haymen, and they should. They played with both. And with a lot of others. But on this new album they shine on their own and deserve to be heard more widely.
