Euphoria – Euphoria

Seems only serendipitous that this reissue is appearing alongside the recent effort from OCS, as Euphoria also explore a psych-tinged brand of bittersweet pop, drenched in a creamy lushness, warm as sunshine on the shoulders. Though that’s a key difference between them and their present day followers, they tend to embrace more of the sunshine pop that put them in leagues with The Mamas and Papas, The Free Design or even Sapphire Thinkers. Like those groups, the band embraced male/female harmonies and a beautifully swooning version of pop that, unfortunately for them, fell out of favor just about the time that their eponymous debut surfaced on Heritage Records.

The band evolved out of the Greenwich Village folk boom, merging the circuit riding duo Roger and Wendy with the slightly sturdier songwriting of Tom Pacheco. As the band emerged from their recording sessions with a finished product, the winds shifted and the record label pulled the bulk of its promotion. As is too typical the record languished, the group splintered, and the record remains a much bigger gem in hindsight than it was ever acknowledged as at the time. The members went on to a few other projects (Bermuda Triangle and Pacheco & Alexander) after the dissolution of the band, but this remains the members’ most lasting work. Anyone with a love for Sunshine-psych or ’60s chamber pop will do well to get into this one, it’s more than just a curio of the era, not a chart-topper, but a record that explores a vibrant strain of folk that’s dripping with sighed melancholy.




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