Los Angeles at any time has more weirdoes than any city should actually be able to accommodate. And regardless of how one views the current state of that town today, it's pretty safe to assume that during the early portion of the '60s - as the freeqs began rolling in - the town went through a bizarre transition. With Yahowa 13 in addition to the scores of other psych beat combos, the town over flowed with musical ambition - it does still today as well, but it kinda stinks (that's not intended to be a goof on the Smell).

Being born in that bizarre and sprawling cultural Mecca may have given Kim Fowley some advantage over the folks moving to the coast, but regardless of that, he remains one of the hardest working stiffs in show biz. Beginning his career in music during the late '50s, he was instrumental in helping Skip Battin (the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage) begin his recording career. And even if Battin isn't a big enough personage to have Fowley's name etched in the annuls of rock history, he appeared on Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's first disc entitled Freak Out.

These maneuvers saw Folwey align himself with the out culture basing itself on the coast. He seemed to fit in pretty well. Along with all of this, though, came the drugs. It can't be said to have negatively affected everyone. And as an early homage - in 1965 - Fowley recorded what could arguably be considered one of the first psych tracks mentioning the wonders of LSD. "The Trip" should be remembered for more than its subject matter, though. It's a pretty strong rock track, but unfortunately it's been all but lost to time.

Recruiting the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band to back him up, two years later Fowley entered the studio to set down Love is Alive and Well. For the most part, the disc is given over to trite hippy-isms. The disc counts no less than four songs with the word flower in the title. For pretty good reason, the disc hasn't been fetishized in the same way other efforts from the time have been. The respect afforded the musician, arranger, manager and publisher shouldn't wan in light of this musical misstep - it's not that bad. But oddly enough the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and its discs Part One and Part Two easily surpass the ten tracks here.

This first full length from '67 was only the first long player that Fowley released. His back catalog is rife with dusty discs that probably each have at least a few gems amongst them. The cultural cache that Fowley currently possesses - he apparently has a weekly Sirius radio show - is as tied to the fact that he made it out of the psychedelic dungeon of the '60s as anything else. The production credits that he stacked up shouldn't be trifled with, but unfortunately Fowley just wasn't up to recording music as frenetic as what he over saw behind the boards.