Tomorrow's sole album was a solid effort, with quite a few first-rate tracks. "My White Bicycle" was one of the first songs to prominently feature backward guitar phasing, "Real Life Permanent Dream" has engaging English harmonies and sitar riffs, "Revolution" is an infectious hippie anthem, and... [+] Expand

Tomorrow's sole album was a solid effort, with quite a few first-rate tracks. "My White Bicycle" was one of the first songs to prominently feature backward guitar phasing, "Real Life Permanent Dream" has engaging English harmonies and sitar riffs, "Revolution" is an infectious hippie anthem, and "Now Your Time Has Come" -- which turns out to have a much more complex history than anyone thought -- features intricate riffing from Steve Howe. "Hallucinations" with its irresistible melody, gentle harmonies, and affectingly trippy lyrics, was perhaps their best track, and also a superb showcase for Howe's early playing, acoustic and electric alike. The more self-conscious English whimsy -- populated by jolly little dwarfs, Auntie Mary's dress shop, colonels, and the like -- is less successful, although the band's craftsmanship is strong enough to avoid embarrassment; and in fairness, that was what the British themselves were pushing in their own pop culture image of London on a psychedelic sunny afternoon, the sort of denizens that seemed to populate and the atmosphere that permeated episodes of The Avengers, not to mention innumerable movies. [The 1986 British reissue of this album features detailed liner notes and the worthy B-side "Claremont Lake," though unfortunately, Keith West's sappy but influential "Excerpt From a Teenage Opera" was deleted. But the 1999 Japanese CD reissue, available in a cool mini-LP format, is the real version to get, almost doubling the length of the original album -- but still no "Teenage Opera" -- with a dozen highly worthwhile tracks that are not only just about as good as the original album's contents but, in one instance, also fills in a vital hole in that album that no one knew existed. Beyond the rocking, spacy "Claremont Lake," there's an early, much harder played alternate mono mix of "Real Life Permanent Dream" and also the band's version of the Byrds' "Why," which is bolder and more inventive than their stripped-down, rocking (but still trippy) rendition of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever"; additionally, there's an intriguing vault discovery in the form of "Now Your Time Has Come," a completely different song from the track of that title on the album, and which actually uses the title phrase in its lyric -- the discovery of this enigmatic freakbeat rocker, with some of Howe's loudest playing, led to the revelation of a last-minute substitution on the album, possibly so that this ultimately unissued song could be used as the group's third single. Then there are a trio of tracks from the Aquarian Age, a short-lived linkup between drummer Twink and bassist Junior (aka John Alder and John Wood) -- "10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box" could pass for a Tomorrow cut, but "Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard" is a piece of psychedelic-era zaniness that makes one think of a sketch by the comedy group the Goodies. And, finally, even without "Teenage Opera," there are four Keith West tracks (featuring Ron Wood on bass, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, and Steve Howe on guitar) that are delightful psychedelic pop productions. "On a Saturday" is almost closer to the Moody Blues at their cheerful psychedelic trippiest, but is also filled with memorable melodies and hooks. Not all of it works, especially when West tries to engage in musical storytelling as in "The Kid Was a Killer," but even there the playing is so good and the production so crisp that it's enjoyable on a purely sonic level, great listening in spite of itself. And when they stick to pop music, and on the beautifully string-accompanied "She," you can just float away on the richness of the production and the power of the hooks. The other great attribute of this release is the incredible sound, so vivid that you can practically hear the action on the guitars on "Hallucinations," to name but one sonic revelation; and the Keith West cuts sound like the whole band is in the room with you, with Ron Wood's bass and Aynsley Dunbar's drumming about as up close and personal as they could be.] ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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