Dragonfly Dragonfly Artist

A favorite among some collectors of rare late-'60s/early-'70s psychedelic albums, {|Dragonfly|}'s self-titled LP is a not-so-finely balanced mixture of the sort of overwrought bluesy hard rock by bands of the period like {|Iron Butterfly|} with the p... Read more

A favorite among some collectors of rare late-'60s/early-'70s psychedelic albums, {|Dragonfly|}'s self-titled LP is a not-so-finely balanced mixture of the sort of overwrought bluesy hard rock by bands of the period like {|Iron Butterfly|} with the poppier, more power chord-driven hard rock of the late-'60s {|Who|}. While it might be predictable for a critic to prefer the {|Who|} influences to the more generic psychedelic hard rock ones, {|Dragonfly|} are at their best when they favor the former over the latter. When they get into more standard blustery macho rock a la {|Blue Monday|} (not the {|Fats Domino|} classic) or {|Hoochie Coochie Man,|} they're pretty dispensable. Yet {|Portrait of Youth|} has some powerhouse drumming that seems to make it pretty unlikely the percussionist hadn't avidly studied {|Keith Moon|}, and passages nodding to foppish late-'60s British pop-psychedelia are mixed into the package, sometimes incongruously so. Furious distorted guitar and some psychedelic trickery are in relative abundance, yet not at the expense of some fairly {|Who|}-ish harmonies and airier sensibilities. But there aren't any really outstanding songs here, and the mix of approaches can be cluttered and confused. ~ Richie Unterberger Less