Cheap Present Tense (Music) (Sagittarius) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Present Tense

"Present Tense," the most easily availible of all of the Boettcher works (the Ballroom, Millennium, Association, and other material he produced is currently either hard to find or out of print, but that might change soon), is usually the first thing bought by someone discovering that niche of 60s pop, and thus it's a good thing that it falls relatively in between the spectrum of "fluff" and material with substance. First, a warning: do not not NOT buy this just from knowledge of "My World Fell Down;" as has been stated in other reviews, very little from the rest of the album is like that track (indeed, that track doesn't feature Curt Boettcher at all). Indeed, I'm gonna throw that track and its merits out for a second, and look at the rest of the album. The disc starts out with the lovely "Another Time," with this being, in my opinion, the best rendition of the tune (it also appears on some other of Boettcher's efforts). "Will You..." is nice, but somewhat inconsequential, and it does have that RIDICULOUS alternate title. "You Know" and "Keeper" are both very nice tracks, the later being a holdover from the Ballroom album.

"Glass" is just utterly ridiculous...it's apparently a SANDPIPERS tune, but...well, if it came out today, people would probably assume it was constructed using high-quality MIDI synthesis. It has a very odd sound. "Would You" is back to fluffiness, and is also taken from the Ballroom sessions. After the Track We Shalt Not Mention, we get the mega-fluff of "Hotel Indiscrete," which is where my tolerence is apparently exceeded...it's the one track I just can't listen to. The last three songs round out the original programme nicely, and the bonus tracks are almost all keepers (no pun intended).

So a conclusion: listen before you buy.

And a note...this album is remixed, rather splendidly so, making it sound VERY incredibly good. Aspire!

Progressive Bubble Gum Pop?
What a gem this is. Yes, it's ahead of its time. In fact, It wasn't supposed to be made. Gary Usher's boss expected Gary to produce for other musicians, not make his own music. It's amazing how hard-headed american employers are. But, I'll have to admit, musicians did have more liberty to make the music that was in their heart, not just what some limited-minded record label wanted them to do. I think that's why music in the 60's and 70's (and, what the hell, the early 80's), remains in our hearts and it's appeal never fades away to this day. Today's music is quickly forgotten the moment it leaves the radio (remember Natalie Umbriglia, Green Day, or Alanis Morissette? I barely do). Anyway, Sagittarius is a fabulous piece of work that didn't get the attention that it deserves. I first heard MY WORLD FELL DOWN (shorter stereo version) on a ROCK ARTIFACTS CD. Then Rhino put in in their Summer of Love (CD), and in the Nuggets box set. I knew their had to be something wonderful about Sagittarius, even though the single of MY WORLD FELL DOWN only charted at about #70 on Billboard. Present Tense is both Psychedelic, and yet very innocent sounding. Of course, you can hear Usher's bitterness at his boss in the lyrics of a few of the songs. I appreciate that this CD has both the album and single verions of MY WORLD FELL DOWN although it would have been cool if the longer single version was in stereo too. The songs "Glass" and "Hotel Indiscreet" are very charming, however, one of my favorite songs on here has a disturbing flaw. "Musty Dusty" starts to distort horribly about 2 minutes into the song. I guess we can't have everything. I highly recommend this CD though. I wouldn't doubt more people have bought this CD today, than the sales were for the album in its day.

Fun from beginning to end!
Take the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, and the Cowsills, throw them all together in a blender, and that's the sound you get. Maybe not a work of art or anything, but it's definitely fun from beginning to end.