This is the Magic Mixture

Please tell me I’m not dreaming. I don’t think I could handle a world in which a band called The Magic Mixture didn’t really exist. This is the Magic Mixture, first released in 1968 on the small Saga label, is an unbelievably obscure record from the UK’s psychedelic underground. Armed with the essentials—a drug-related band name, trippy cover art—this London-based quartet used its one and only album to deliver a durable set of formulaic mid-tempo rockers. “(I’m So) Sad” and “It’s Alright by Me” best reflect the band’s brand of guitar-laden, Hammond organ-inspired pop rock, while “You” is a nod to the decade’s burgeoning hard rock movement. It’s the moody, jazz-influenced “Urge to Leave” and the psychedelic ballad “Living on a Hill,” however, that reveal the group’s bristling musical diversity, both providing a break from the foursome's heavier material. The Magic Mixture disappeared shortly after the release of this record, although that didn’t prevent at least one of its members from pursuing a career in music. Guitarist/vocalist Terry Thomas formed the group Charlie, who scored a Top 40 hit in 1983 with the song “It’s Inevitable.” He later produced albums for both Tommy Shaw (Styx) and Bad Company.

Notes: I rarely comment on the sound quality or production work of an album, but This is the Magic Mixture is atrocious on both counts. Legend has it the original 12 tracks for this lp were recorded in the record label’s owner’s basement, which alternatively served as a children’s nursery. The 2008 Sunbeam cd reissue provides an obvious upgrade, but it’s hard to disguise the blemishes that appear on an album that sounds like it was recorded in a paper bag.