Pulse

This nine-song collection of turn-of-the-decade hard rock first appeared in 1969 on a small independent label called Poison Ring Records. Originally conceived by six longhairs from New Haven, Connecticut, Pulse clumsily wobbles along through an already over-populated field of acid-induced, blues-influenced psychedelic garage rock. The band occasionally—and almost luckily, it would seem—stumbles upon a nifty riff or two (see “She’s Killin’ Me,” “Amassilation” and “My Old Boy”), and lead singer Carl Donnell isn’t half bad, but most of the band's material is completely ineffective and unmemorable. What almost saves this reissue—at least in terms of pure entertainment value—is the inclusion of two bonus tracks, both of which pre-date the original lp. The first, “Can Can Girl,” sounds like a not-so-good high school marching band; the second, a spoken-word piece called “Burritt Bradley,” conjures up images of Vincent Price in one of those schlock-fest horror flicks from the 1950s. Sample lyric: “For those of you who don’t know/what the absolute truth is/let me start by telling you/that I no longer am/I once had a physical body/but I gave it up long ago…” Overblown, pretentious and comically ridiculous. God bless the ‘60s.