The Baroques coulda’ been contenders. The Milwaukee band’s lone LP of 50 years ago was originally issued by one of the most renowned independent labels of its era. Nor did it lack for original, ear-worming songs that could have fit comfortably on AM-pop stations or the fledgling insurgency of progressive FM-rock programming.
However, that label, Chess Records, had made its name on R&B and blues. The Baroques served as the musical canary that died in the coal mine of attempting to broaden Chess’ appeal. Furthermore, selecting a single from the album that some radio programmers misconstrued as advocating drug use (“Mary Jane”) served as a good way to get banned. Though The Baroques didn’t break nationally in their day, the album they left behind holds up solidly as a bridge from the clamor of mid-decade garage-punk to the psychedelia that would follow. Bits of Byrds/Beau Brummels folk-rock peer up from the minimalist, monophonic mix, as does an East Indian raga influence.
Jay Borkenhagen’s sometimes arch, Anglophile vocals fit the varying textures of The Baroques. The late Jacques Hutchinson’s guitar versatility extended from gentle chimes and jangles to berserk freak-outs; per their name, harpsichord is heard. Coxsackie, N.Y.’s Sundazed Music has reissued the album as a nearly exact replica of its original Chess edition, save for discreet labeling and gloriously yellow vinyl. Milwaukee rock diehards and anyone appreciative of ’60s obscurities will want one of the 1,500 copies pressed.
