If 1964 was 1968, if Sydney, Australia, was San Francisco, CA and if life was half scored by Strawberry Alarm Clock and half scored by Ennio Morricone, Aussie five-piece outfit The Dolly Rocker Movement would fit right in. However, since none of those conditions are met by existence as we know it (the former being impossible according to the laws of physics), the band’s unique blend of pop rock, bright-hued psychedelia and occasional flourishes of spaghetti western atmospherics is individual enough to make their third album, Our Days Mind the Tyme (Bad Afro), memorable beyond its songs.

I say “if 1964 was 1968” because tunes like “Our Brave New World” and the acoustic-led waltz “A Sound for Two” have an innocent sweetness to them prevalent in A Hard Days Night-era British invasion rock that was lost by the time the sultry lysergisms of late-‘60s hippie rock took over, despite the fact that the keys of Martin Walters inevitably aligns The Dolly Rocker Movement with the latter musically. And although Our Days Mind the Tyme is unquestionably a work of psychedelic rock, its pop sensibility and lack of outward heaviness make it an accessible, friendly album that capitalizes on a retro ideology without overdoing any single aspect of the era it’s emulating. Guitarist Dandy Lyon’s vocals, in sometime trade-off with a female vocalist, as on “Coffin Love,” only enhance the retro atmosphere, calling to mind visions of orange bellbottoms and paisley bandannas the likes of which simply aren’t found in the world as we know it in the 21^st Century.

Read more »