TWINN CONNEXION "Twinn Connexion"

What a very special treat I have for you today. I think alternate side parking mornings really inspire me. Not unlike my recent post on Lazy Smoke, today's post is all about flowery psych pop, so tune out now if bendy jangly guitars, hippy dippy lyrics, and the occasional sitar isn't really your cup of Earl Grey. Shit, even if it isn't, keep reading, because the Twinn Connexion are one of the most fascinating groups, like, ever.

Twinn Connexion's only release came out in 1968 on Decca Records. Twin brothers from Helena, Montana, Jay & Jerry Hopkins wore matching white suits with green ascots on the cover of their trippy soft pop masterpiece. I could envision them making a guest appearance in Peter Sellers' "The Party" or as boardwalk performers in "I Love You Alice B. Toklas". Or maybe friends of the Monkees or the Sandpipers. When I saw this album in the used bin at Sam's Jams in Detroit back in the early 90s for a dollar, I had no idea what a collector's item it was, I just bought it, for the bizarre factor.

The album has its share of misfires, in fact, some record company stooge probably sequenced the damned thing, as I nearly never got past the first two tracks, Sixth Avenue Stroll and I Think I'll Go And Find Me A Flower. The lyrics on Sixth Avenue Stroll perplex me: "There's a man with a funny cigar who's with a funny man, and I'll bet that, that funny cigar, just doesn't understand". No amount of acid can make me wrap my head around that one. But, the rest of the album, is a delight. Totally fucked up but gorgeous arrangements, some Left Banke harpsichords, some Moody Blues B-3, a ton of Laugh-In backbeats.

I got very very curious about re-issuing this a year or two back. I even managed to track down Jerry (thanks to musical knowitall, Dawn Eden), who was living in New York City. Sadly, his brother died several years ago, but he was nice enough to send me a mastered cd copy of the album plus tracks that never got released. So nice. I really had plans to tell the world about them, much like I did with the Poppy Family, but my label hasn't been able to make enough money to sustain itself.....audible sigh here.

I hope you dig, and that's the proper word here really, the tracks I'm posting here for you. If you can track down the whole album, it's worth your time and money. As far as I know, there may be some bootleg cds out there, but it's never had a proper re-issue. Twinn Connexion, you're nuts, I'm crazy, but I love you.

THE SILENT PARADE
I THINK I'LL JUST GO AND FIND ME A FLOWER
THINK I WILL