Powell St. John Reviewed

Powell St. John

Right Track Now (Dream Tracks)

The remarkable nature of Right Track Now isn't quite evident until the second disc, when chiming guitar meets the trippy burble of an electric jug on "You Don't Know." For the uninitiated, the 13th Floor Elevators debuted "You Don't Know (How Young You Are)," written by Powell St. John, on their 1966 debut, The Psychedelic Sounds of.... Roky Erickson and company recorded other PSJ songs ("Monkey Island," "Slide Machine," "Kingdom of Heaven"), as did Janis Joplin ("Bye, Bye Baby"), Boz Scaggs ("I Will Forever Sing the Blues"), and his own band Mother Earth ("Living With the Animals," "Marvel Group," "I, the Fly"). Forty years on, here comes St. John with all those songs plus a few new ones. At two discs, Right Track Now is a mixed bag of first-wave psychedelia, Sixties-style blues-rock ("I Will Forever Sing the Blues," "Living With the Animals"), tender Mexican ballads ("Hermanita," "Abandonado"), the kind of proto-folk that often passes for roots rock ("City Hall," "Right Track Now"), and charming whimsy ("Marvel Group," "I, the Fly"). Like many songwriters, St. John's vocals are limited but expressive enough to carry the 17 tracks distinctively. This is especially true on the title tune, a duet with Erickson, with fine-touch production from Elevators tribute king Fred Mitchim. Powell St. John was there at the creation of all things psychedelic, and Right Track Now ensures he won't be just a footnote.