This is the first ever re-issue for this legendary private press album that first came out in the mid 70's, The Happy Dragon Band was a solo project of Thomas Court who was based in Detroit and certainly inhaled and partook of everything on offer in the 70's, this album is for fans of private press synth oddness, freak psych flights of musical fancy.
The album opens with 3D Free a very hippy freaky prog song set to an unlikely almost reggae beat, with acid drenched vocals and lyrics, obscure psych freaks will love this as he chants happy Future as he dreams of utopian times to come.
Positive People sounds like an eerie sci-fi soundtrack for Tron On Acid, it's synth freak beat phased weirdness that works around the mantra that always happy people are Positive People like he swallowed all the Est Kool Aid.
In Flight is slower more chilled out, perfect for lying back as your space flight takes off this will be the In Flight music, as you travel the Spaceways from planet to planet, with echoes of the fraught desperation of those permanently lost in space, trapped in another dimension.
Long Time sets the phasers to stun, pulsars shoot orgone pulses at your ears as the mantra of Long Time gets under way, while you sit cross legged beneath your pyramid, as all sorts of hippy dippy philosophy drips organically through the vortex in the lyrics.
Bowling Pin Intro (Ann Arbor) is the sound of bowling pins flying through the air at immense speed cartwheeling as they ruffle your hair while passing by thankfully, as the doom-laden synths give way to a Clangers style musical interlude.
Lyrics Of Love is a psych folk ballad that he hopes will win over the object of his desire more than another blotter of acid does, this is somewhere between the Incredible String Band and Cat Stevens.
Disco America feels like R. Stevie Moore style parody of Disco coming in the disco Sucks era, as it progresses the music seems to have more Disco elements added to it while never really being danceable, he might have had a few too many disco biscuits to really get the dancefloor vibe going.
Inside The Pyrimid is obviously about the 70's craze for sitting under your own personal pyramid, I forget what it was meant to do for you, but this channels the spaced out freaked out feelings to help you chill out and work out which cult you wish to join next week.
Astro Phunk takes us on a spaced out freaked out journey and with the lyrics I was expecting on the previous tune, this has some spectral guitar warbling synths and delightfully out their music and lyrics.
3d-Free electronic is a synth madness re-mix of the opening tune, bonkers as you like acid fried madness to make Cluster seem straight edge.
The bonus tune Fanty appears to have ever more space blues flight path to the Happy Dragon bands own fantasy world.
The other bonus track Re Re Love is a laid-back talismanic evocation to love over a simple repeating loop of a tune.
Find out more at https://recordstoreday.com/UPC/711574930012
