Keith West

If ever a "secret history" is written of British psychedelic rock, Keith West will surely have one of the leading roles. As the lead singer and principal songwriter of Tomorrow, he was a guiding force of one of the first and best British psychedelic bands, even if their one album (with a lineup that also featured Steve Howe in his pre-Yes days) was little heard beyond the London underground. West got his feet wet in the British Beat boom as singer in the obscure mod/R&B bands Four + 1 and the In Crowd, the latter of which evolved into Tomorrow after Steve Howe joined. While Tomorrow was still a going concern in 1967, West launched a simultaneous solo career, releasing a few solo singles (some of which also input from Howe) in the late '60s. The first of these, "Excerpt From a Teenage Opera," was an unexpectedly huge smash, reaching number two on the British charts during the summer of 1967. "Teenage Opera," a convoluted story about the death of a grocer named Jack, was rather fruity in both lyrics and production (prominently featuring a too-cute children's chorus). But this ornately arranged slice of pop-psychedelia (with the accent heavily on the pop) had some moments of real grandeur, and has been said to have been an influence on Pete Townshend at a time when he was mulling over prospects for a rock opera of his own. The British press hyped the hit as part of a forthcoming full-length opera, but, in fact, nothing else had been written, and a projected double-album never materialized. West did release one more installment as a single, the even more rococo "Sam," a perhaps too-ambitious orchestral-psychedelic production that briefly made the British Top 40. West's solo success hindered the career of the much less pop-oriented Tomorrow, who had yet to even release...