Though their lifespan may have only been a relative musical blink in the grand scheme of things, Ultimate Spinach were one of Boston’s answers to the San Francisco scene. At the peak of the psychedelic era, many bands started to emerge from the “Bosstown Sound”, which was a marketing campaign launched as a regional attempt to compete with the “San Francisco Sound”. Among these bands came Ultimate Spinach and I would wager every penny I have that they could give any San Francisco band a run for their money!
Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, this band emerged in 1967 and were gone by 1969. During their existence, they released three albums, with their self-titled debut being the most commercially successful. Originally called the Underground Cinema, their line-up consisted of Ian Bruce-Douglas as a multi-instrumentalist, Barbara Hudson as vocalist, Keith Lahteinen on drums, Geoff Winthrop on rhythm guitar, and Richard Nese on bass guitar. As Underground Cinema, the group served as house band in a club called the Unicorn and recorded demos which later appeared on New England Teen Scene: Unreleased! 1965-1968, in 1966.
The name of the band was changed to Ultimate Spinach when they signed with Boston impresario Alan Lorber (Lorber produced all three of their albums). Bruce-Douglas says that he named the band based on experiences in an acid trip, describing how “One day, in 1967, I was in my room, tripping on some really pure LSD. I started looking at myself in the mirror and my face was doing funny things. I had a bunch of colored markers I used to draw with. I grabbed a green one and started drawing all these psychedelic designs on my face. When I was done, I looked at myself and said ‘Whoa! I am ultimate spinach. Ultimate spinach is me!‘”
(Ballad of) The Hip Death Goddess was accompanied by eight other garage-rock goodies on their debut album. If you’ve not heard the LP before, its definitely worth checking out – I’ve pasted this below for your listening pleasure! I like the its comparative sound to the likes of Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe & The Fish. It’s a great record! Enjoy!
thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com 