The End – Introspection
The End’s one and only album, Introspection, may have fallen along the wayside following its much delayed 1969 release but in the intervening years up until its CD reissue it acquired a certain amount of mystique amongst lovers of psychedelia. This was as a result of the Rolling Stones connections the album enjoyed, having none other than Bill Wyman on production duties.
Partially recorded at the same time as the Stones were recording Their Satanic Majesties Request one might be forgiven for expecting to hear a powerhouse of psychedelic rock; a companion piece to the Stones’ album.
Unfortunately, Introspection is a much more subdued affair, gallantly straddling the saddle of psychedelic pop but taking no chances while it’s there.
This is not to say it isn’t any good. On the contrary, dear fellow, as an exponent of the late 60′s psychedelia vibe it’s very much passable, if a little unremarkable. The harder edges of some guitar-driven psycedelic pop have been smoothed away, leaving an elegant, sometimes bubbly album, complimented by a light sprinkling of the baroque.
However, despite the overall by-the-numbers feel, there are standout tracks that lift themselves above the rest, such as the ethereal opener ‘Dreamworld’, the wonderful mystique of ‘Under the Rainbow’ and the single ‘Shades of Orange’ – once thought by bootleggers to be a Stones/Beatles collaboration and bearing a certain similarity in sound to Bill Wyman’s ‘In Another Land’ from Satanic Majesties.
Given the opportunity, Introspection may have been enough to propel The End forwards onto bigger and better things. But the events that conspired against them only saw the group break up and fade into obscurity. Nevertheless, the album has enough going for it to find a welcoming home in the collection of any appreciative psychedelic-pop collector.
Introspection is reissued on the Decca label and available from Amazon.co.uk
Further reading:
The End: Their Satanic Majesties Forget!
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