One Nation Underground

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Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 36:03

eMusic Review

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Bruce Pollock

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
The swirly grass and acid ethos of the folk-rock-to-psychedelic era summed up in thirty-six minutes.
2002 | Label: ESP'Disk

With the most endearing lisp in show business (until Natalie Merchant came along), Tom Rapp was Pearls Before Swine. One Nation Underground is an album whose essential oddness and brilliance was equaled in the era only perhaps by Dr. John's eerie Gris Gris and maybe David Peel's Have a Marijuana (but don't get me started on that one). In a mere ten songs, Rapp & Co. summed up the swirly grass and acid ethos of the folk-rock-to-psychedelic era better than a dozen aspiring teary-eyed poets. Not that Rapp wasn't essentially a teary-eyed poet himself, determined to follow his own advice to “Live your life behind your eyes.” Listening again to oddball gems like “Dropout,” “Another Time,” “Playmates” and the Sara Teasdale poem brought to music, “I Shall Not Care,” brings back a much more complicated time of unusual pleasures and impossible choices — making you glad you only have to relive them now through music.

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wonderful music but what a lithp

Islwynpaul

An excellent album that I can only listen to with a snigger as Tom Rapp lithpth through thong after thong.

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Fun to Find

seadiva

As a young art student I bought this when first released based on the cover art and the biblical literary allusion of their name.As it turned out I loved the album too. My copy long gone, it was fun to find here and give myself a flashback and a laugh about the intellectualizing external reviews. By the way,you might find that a copy of Dr.John's 'Gris Gris'would be good too.

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A Psychedelic Classic

EVDebs

I picked this up on vinyl about thirty years ago entirely because of the cover (what can I say, I was into Bosch as a kid). It was already a period piece, but I loved the Sixties and loved the record. What a treat to return to it over a quarter century later!

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Up there with Tim Buckley...

selektor

as one of the most hauntingly trippy of the 60s psych/folk guys. Found an 8-track of 'These Things, Too' in the 80s for a nickel; it was amazing! Today's 'freak folk' artists don't hold a candle to Tom Rapp.

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Backflash

ricardo222

Dude! Was that you!? Man, this takes me back to a better place. check it out.

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They Say All Media Guide

Psychedelic-folk debut from one of the most erudite, literate minds in rock, Thomas D. Rapp (and the first of his ever-changing Swine). Although the songs here lack some cohesion, this is still a stunning piece of work, from the nightmarish sleeve art — the “Hell Panel” from Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th century painting “Garden of Delights” — to the strange yet powerful songs. “Another Time,” the most memorable selection, is an understated acoustic song, the first that Rapp ever penned, based on his experience in a horrific car crash where he walked away unscathed. Of similar mood is the beautiful “Ballad of an Amber Lady.” “Drop Out” is a straightforward song built around a popular credo of the ’60s. “Uncle John” is one of the earliest protest songs about the Vietnam War. Strangest (and funniest) of all is “(Oh Dear) Miss Morse,” where Rapp adopts a Victorian persona and sounds out the Morse code spelling of F-U-C-K, accompanied by banjo and Farfisa organ.
Considering Rapp’s fascination with history, it’s not surprising that one of the songs here, “I Shall Not Care,” features a co-writer credit to “Roman Tombs.” The cryptic words that comprise this song’s title were discovered on a tomb that dates to the final days of the Roman Empire. – Peter Kurtz

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