Hassels In My Mind by The Corporation
The Corporation looked to on the verge of big things. The hard psychedelic rock sextet was doing their hometown of Milwaukee proud by being releasing their 1969 debut album on Capitol Records and cracking the lower rungs of national sales charts. Pockets of especially strong popularity throughout the country spurred what was to have been a pivotal tour.
Creative differences with their label put the kibosh on the band’s momentum. But not their productivity. Though they couldn’t last very long into it, the dawn of the ‘70s saw the group issue two long-players on Age of Aquarius, the hippie imprint of Sauk City’s prolific and diverse Cuca Records. Get On Our Swing and Hassels (sic) In My Mind have been in and out of print intermittently over the decades, but they're available again digitally as one of the bigger deals associated with a flurry of Cuca reissues by its catalog's current hone, Chicago obscurity experts Numero Group.
The last two Corporation long-players correspond to both sides of their eponymous debut release. Just as The Corporation’s Side A comprises generally shorter compositions ready for the kind of FM freeform radio-to-AM pop acceptance Capitol may have had in mind for them. Though one number beats Roxy Music to observing the narcotic effect of love by a few years, the overall impression of Get On Our Swing is one of acid rock erosion, with fatuous flower power sentiments set to would-be hooks that never quite catch.
The Corporation - Get On Our Swing
Though their use of flute was novel enough, an opening track recalling the ornery, bluesy stomp of certain strains of garage punk was already a couple years past its sell-by date by the time Swing swung onto the market. Much more satisfying is their final statement in Hassels. Though it contains nothing quite so audacious as their 20-miute interpretation of an already quarter-hour John Coltrane piece, their last may fly their freak flag at their highest. Singer Daniel Pell sells lyrics rife with quasi-profundity and perplexing metaphor with a fervor he doesn’t reach on the prior set. Furthermore, the trippy potential of the aforementioned woodwind and mouth harp are further plumbed, as is brass; the effect of the latter brings to mind Blood, Sweat & Tears in a lysergic alternate reality.
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Together, both albums offer a fascinating sampling of what was then called underground rock from the Upper Midwest by an act still crafting a legacy after their brightest time in the spotlight had passed.
