The Seeds Future

The ensuing album, “Future”, seemed at once both calculated and confused. For some, it represents the Seeds’ grand psychedelic statement, a mind-blowing articulation of the flower power movement of which they had been proclaimed torchbearers. To others, “Future” is Sky Saxon’s folly: an over-egged, acid-damaged pudding that submerged the true power of the band with meaningless grandeur. The truth lies somewhere between. A narcissistic over-confidence made Sky feel the need to now augment Daryl, Jan and Rick in the studio with numerous overdubs – strings, harp, tuba – on hastily cobbled material that brimmed with bizarre lyrical concepts. On certain tracks the combination worked fine, on others it seemed almost like a parody of psychedelia. Nevertheless, “Future” contains many fan favourites such as ‘Painted Doll’, ‘Flower Lady’, ‘Two Fingers’ and ‘A Thousand Shadows’.