Country: USA
Genre: psychedelic rock, garage rock
Year: 1967
Label: Sundazed
Review: 1967 was supposed to be the year the Chocolate Watchband finally made it big. They had spent the last couple of years gradually climbing their way to the top of San Francisco's R&B scene. They had paid their dues and put in their work; now it was time for things to pay off. By the end of 1966, their raw, raucous, Rolling Stones-y sound had landed them gigs alongside Jefferson Airplane and Captain Beefheart. They had released their first two singles—and they were both hits. The Chocolate Watchband was on the radio. They were in the movies. They had a wealth of talent. And they had a catalog of proven material. All that was left to do was lay it down on their first full-length record. And so, in the new year, that's exactly what they set out to do.
But things didn't exactly go as planned. In fact, it was a complete disaster from start to finish. The thing is though, listening to No Way Out you'd never guess it. The LP is one of the finest examples of British Invasion-influenced garage rock, one of the few American releases that can stand up to the early Kinks or Rolling Stones. The standout tracks, "Let's Talk About Girls" and "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-in)", are exceptional—and both would later earn their way onto the famed Nuggets box-set. The cover of Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" (complete with a guest appearance by Wolfman Jack) nearly rivals the original. A couple of psychedelic instrumentals give the album more depth and variety than you'd expect from a straight-up R&B group. Even in 1967, maybe the greatest year in music history, No Way Out stands out as one of the better records released. It's everything the band could have hoped for, just the kind of record that could take them from being local heroes to international stars. By Adam Bunch.
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