Legendary late-'60s teen garage psychedelic album from Boston.
In the winter of 1968, a young rock group from Lynn, Massachusetts, was commissioned by a Boston advertising firm to record an album and a jingle for a famous local Candy company. The resulting LP was offered as a mail-order premium inside Waleeco candy bars, marketed through Fleetwood Recording Studio in Revere and issued on its own custom label. Its fate was extraordinary: in 1974, Fleetwood reportedly discarded scores of unopened boxes of the LP. Fortunately, the original master tapes survived.
The 1968 mastering process of the original album had compromised the stereo image by combining the channels into mono. This reissue, sourced from the original ¼-inch master tapes, restores the striking separation: instrumental tracks often occupy the left channel while the right carries the music through Fleetwood’s distinctive plate reverb.
Musically, Waleeco is remarkably diverse, blending folk, classical, rock and West Coast psychedelic influences into a richly atmospheric whole. The driving “Feelin’ Much Better” and “Four & Twenty Miles” showcase the band’s garage/psych/folk-rock sound, while Rick Doyle’s fluid, understated fuzzy guitar work runs throughout the album.
Quieter pieces such as “When You’re There” and “I’m So Happy” reveal the group’s thoughtful lyrical side, creating a distinctly introspective mood. Keyboard-led tracks including “Prelude for the Town Monk” and the haunting “Dark Street Downtown” demonstrate an adventurous approach to melody and dynamics, while “Portrait in Grey” builds from a subdued instrumental opening to a dramatic crescendo before fading into silence. Even their sole cover, “Midnight Hour,” is transformed into an almost unrecognizable, soft, dreamy ballad. The album closes with “Satori,” a psychedelic instrumental that shows the group’s adventurous studio experimentation.
Long sought after by collectors, "Waleeco" stands as a remarkable time capsule of the first psychedelic era.
Sourced from the original masters. Original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. Four-pannel insert with liner notes and cool photos.
“…one of the better Bosstown artifacts…” – Aaron Milenski (Acid Archives)
