Marco Rossi, The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

 

Recently I was kindly gifted this absolute gem by a close friend; The Sincerest Form Of Flattery by Marco Rossi, a fabulous 8'' lathe cut EP from the wonderful Fruits de Mer records (Friend Of The Fish 67). Rossi dishes up a glorious slice of 60's psychedelia sensitively re-imagined for our times, beautiful; we could certainly do with some of that 60's hope. As you'd imagine being from FdM this is a quality item, top notch by every metric, bravo. Marco Rossi is best known for being a member of The Kevin McDermott Orchestra and the fabulous Gothic Chicken (Not heard of them? Then you really must check 'em out, 'cos you're missing out.). It's immediately evident that Rossi has a deep understanding, love and respect for the original source material and the 60's psychedelic period from which they came, as his interpretations do the originals justice conjuring the same atmosphere and yet still managing to bring something new to each; he's chosen four wonderful tracks, interesting left field choices too, beginning with 'Ivy Ivy' by The Left Banke, followed by 'My Friend' by Spirit, 'L.A' by Orange Bicycle and finally 'Forget All About It' by The Nazz. Man, this is good. Rossi's arrangement and production are perfectly pitched, his attention to detail meticulous, getting everything spot on, his voice naturally lends itself to the genre and all together he's rendered a warm and engaging 60's musical aesthetic that you can just sink right into...sumptuous. I understand that these four tracks are but an appetizer, and that there's a whole CD available! Now, CD's are my last choice of format, I've never forgiven Tomorrows World for it's false claims regarding the durability of CD's; that said, I'll be trying to procure a copy toot suite. Would you believe it this project was produced in a bedroom too, mental! Yup, that's right, Rossi created this in a bedroom. Far out.