Eclection

An interesting, offbeat folk-rock group of the late '60s, Eclection ultimately were not quite strong, distinctive, or dogged enough to make much of an impact during their brief lifespan. One of the few British acts on the Elektra roster during that era, their sole album (Eclection, 1968) sounded unusually Californian for a British group of the period. While at their core they were melodic, slightly bittersweet folk-rock, the production -- by Ossie Byrne (who also worked with the early Bee Gees) -- was overlaid with frequent soaring light orchestration reminiscent of that heard on numerous late '60s Californian sunshine pop discs. Their multi-part harmonies, too, were very much in the Californian pop-folk mold, particularly due to the combination of male and female voices, which could variously recall the Mamas & the Papas, the Jefferson Airplane, the Seekers, and the We Five. Original female singer Kerrilee Male, in particular, sounded much like the slightly strident yet moving woman singers heard in the Seekers, We Five, and early Airplane. Eclection's material was not as strong as that of the Mamas & the Papas or the Jefferson Airplane, but there were enough interesting forces at work to make one regret that they only managed to release one album before breaking up in late 1969. Although based in England, Eclection were actually formed by one Englishman, one Canadian, one Norwegian, and two Australians. Creatively, the group were dominated by guitarist/singer Georg Hultgreen (who wrote most of their songs) and guitarist/singer Michael Rosen (who wrote the remainder of the songs and usually took the male vocal leads). Eclection, like several Elektra albums of the period, matched some pretty folk-rock melodicism with slightly arty orchestrated production and a...