Organical | |
|---|---|
| Creators | Penchant for Lettuce |
| Genre | Folk Rock |
| Year | 1965 |
| Tracks | 13 |
| Length | 52:38 |
Organical
Background
Organical is the second studio album released by Penchant for Lettuce in 1965. After the release of their debut album, Arable Sunrise, the band wanted to capitalise on it’s success, along with the new fans they had, with another folk rock album to enjoy. The whole album was greatly influenced by the bands journey to Birchstock where they were able to pick up new ideas and collaborate with other likeminded artists. Not only did they get plenty of inspiration from other musicians, Huckleberry was able to learn the harmonica from a professional at the camp site. This new instrument was used to great effect on a few of the new tracks on the new album.
The whole album was recorded at the recording studio in Idaho where they had also recorded their first album. This time they were a lot more comfortable with the studio and it’s environment. This allowed them to experiment with the equipment in the hope of getting new and interesting sounds and mixes. Although their first two albums are very similar in regards to music and songwriting, you can tell the mixing and complexity of Organical is far more developed.
The most memorable song from the album was Small Town Secrets. To get the lyrics the band placed a postbox in the middle of Elk City with a sign saying “Place your secrets in here.” Locals were encouraged to anonymously write down any secret they had and place it into the box. They had hundreds of responses. Most were secrets that probably shouldn’t be revealed to anyone, but they did find a few that were woven into the lyrics of the song. The greatest discovery was the band finding two notes from two residents that were obviously about each other and how they both liked each other without telling the other. To find the truth, the band asked the local newspaper to tell the story in the hope that the two would find each other. Amazingly they both recognised their notes and were put in touch by the paper. They fell in love and are still together today 57 years later.
Album Art
The album art was created by the band themselves. Willow was just getting into photography so wanted to try her hand with the cover of their second album. The group invited their nieces on their mom’s side, Daisy and Delilah, to a photoshoot on their farm. They loved the two girl’s look and felt they represented the old world farming style they wanted for the cover. Willow asked the girls to pick some flowers from the meadow and when they were happy come over to her for some photos. She took three films worth of images with the two girls in various poses amongst the flowers in the meadow. Once they were finished, the band took the girls to a local diner for a slap up meal to thank them for their help.
The girl’s mother, and the band’s auntie, was so pleased to hear that her daughters were going to appear on the cover. On the day of the album launch she invited all her close friends to her home to listen to the album and pass the cover around. Unbeknownst to her, the photo that Willow chose for the cover had both of her daughter’s faces obscured by the flowers they were holding. It rather put a damper on the whole party. Family relations became a bit tricky, until Willow got a custom one-off cover made up for her aunt where you can clearly see Daisy, and Delilah in the meadow. It smoothed things over and the alternate cover became a fixture of their auntie’s home decor for years.
Track Listing
Read the Clouds (4:19)
Leaves for Days (3:46)
Dirt Tracks to Nowhere (4:02)
Singing Swallows Soaring (3:28)
What Happened at the Harvest Dance? (5:04)
Lead Me Home (2:56)
Wind Chimes (1:59)
Small Town Secrets (3:20)
Meadows of Mud (3:51)
Pastures New (6:22)
Roof Raising (4:31)
Alivestock (5:47)
Baker’s Dozen (3:13)