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THE BLACK HOLLIES About 40 years ago, a pimply army of shaggy-haired, adenoidal American teenagers who worshipped the Yardbirds, the Stones, the Beatles and the Who recorded their own synthesis of these British Invasion heroes in local studios. Amazingly, many of those records—by groups such as the Standells, the Count Five, the Seeds and the Music Machine—became national hits. The New York/New Jersey-based Black Hollies are now feasting on the sounds of these fabled garage combos. And nobody’s died of food poisoning yet. Casting Shadows opener “Whispers Beneath The Willows” thumbs through the comfortably-worn chords of the Yardbirds’ 1965 hit “For Your Love” before Black Hollies guitarist Herb Wiley V sprays out a stinging volley of trashy, proto-psychedelia made famous by Davie Allan & The Arrows. The blend is so intoxicating, the Black Hollies mix the same cocktail for “Hamilton Park Ballerina,” with an intro pinched from “Kicks” by Paul Revere & The Raiders. Wiley’s electric sitar and Justin Angelo Morey’s helium-infused vocals on “The Autumn Chateau” flash back to the glory days of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, while “Paisley Pattern Ground” is an accurate, pill-popping mod knock-off. It’s all good clean fun, especially if you’ve never heard the originals. [Ernest Jenning, www.ernestjenning.com] —Jud Cost
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