Homer - Homer (Reissue) (1972/2012)

After a spate of pirate releases from the likes of Akarma, Homer's "Grown in the USA" finally sees a legitimate release, with GearFab handling the CD and Guerssen the vinyl release.
The sound quality is improved over these earlier issues, but still a little primitive (due in no small part to the original master recordings).
If you're a psychedelic record collector or someone who's spent much time thumbing through books like "Fuzz, Acid and Flowers", you'll no doubt have seen this referred to at the very least, and with good reason.
While "Grown in the USA" isn't 100% successful, it is fairly unique in it's attempts to combine country-rock, hard rock, psychedelia and progressive rock.
While it wasn't unusual for major label bands of the era to need to pad their albums out with experiments in genres that they weren't necessarily equipped to deal with (I'm looking at you Emerson Lake & Palmer), Homer create a distinctive mix of these genres, that is blended far better than you'd normally find on a small press album like this - CSN style vocal harmonies, Thin Lizzy style dual guitars, impressive mellotron, steel guitars - unusual bedfellows indeed, but surprisingly effective in each other's company.
The playing and vocals are uniformly strong throughout particularly on "In The Beginning", and while there's not a weak track to be found, there's also little that's truly exceptional in the songwriting department.
Unusually for a release of this sort, the bonus material, consisting of the three singles Homer released before the album as well as a few demos, are the real treasure. Showcasing a much more gutsy garage psych sound these cuts are much closer to the band's roots in the Outcasts, with a moody garage take on Willie Nelson's "I Never Cared For You" (which delves into Greig's "Hall of the Mountain King") proving most memorable, with the Gene Clark meets Peanut Butter Conspiracy meets early heavy metal stylings of "Texas Light" not far behind.

Odd, ambitious and often effective.Although Homer's sole and rare album is full of ideas and busy late-psychedelic/early-progressive rock instrumentation, it's a bunch of notions in search of a road map, and ultimately doesn't say much. Sometimes there's similarity to early-'70s British progressive rock in the occasional Mellotron, the multi-sectioned song structures, and the dynamic instrumentation. There are country and folkier touches (including steel guitar), though, which were rare in such British music, sometimes leaving a slight odd feeling of hearing Neil Young (an influence especially audible on "Dawson Creek") intersect with Yes and the Moody Blues. The lyrics sometimes have a verge-on-the-better-world hippie outlook that, while laudable on paper, comes across as kind of sappy. The hard-to-get-a-handle-on eclecticism isn't the problem so much as far more common shortcomings in these kind of psychedelic-era obscurities: a lack of strong songs or gripping originality, despite the undoubted competence of the playing and vocals. The 2002 CD reissue on Akarma adds two tracks from a non-LP 1970 single that are actually the best things on the disc. They have more of an early psychedelic feel than the LP and a tighter focus to the songs, which sound a bit like the kind of guitar-heavy, phased psychedelic pop the Amboy Dukes did on "Journey to the Center of the Mind," or early Spirit.

An historic release in digipak format. Homer was one of the best psychedelic/hard rock bands to come out of Texas. They had their early beginnings as the Outcasts and some members played on the Stoics/Mind's Eye 45s reissued on The Children Anthology. While their 1970 LP is very highly rated and rated R4 in rarity, their three 45s are even rarer. Newly discovered tapes have uncovered unreleased songs and demos. All are included in this comprehensive collection. A very young Christopher Cross participated on some of the tracks of the LP.