Summer In the City
As front man for Kula Shaker and The Jeevas Crispian Mills has long displayed his fondness for all things mystical and psychedelic and with 'Healing Hands' he maintains the trend. This and b-side 'Be Merciful' are taken from ten year old sessions recorded partly on Dave Gilmour's house boat that were originally intended to be part of a solo album during a break from Kula Shaker. For one reason or another the album was never released and these tracks have remained in the vault ever since!
'Healing Hands' is a slice of pure West Coast sixties paisley pop, gentle lilting rhythms and vocals with a relaxed but sing along chorus really evoke images of Haight Ashbury and lithe young ladies in flowery dresses swaying to and fro whilst Mills and friends pump out the rhythm in Golden Gate Park. It's not unfair to say that this is a fairly typical song from Mills, the kind he is well known for but it works and whilst it will probably have more appeal to viewers of Jools Holland than T4 there is still plenty to like here.
B side 'Be Merciful' is similarly laid back, a little rawer but still firmly camped in the folk/psyche camp. It's slower than the a-side and with less dynamics but it still creates that hazy 'smoking in the park' feel. Mills was born ten or fifteen years too late to be part of the scene that he ably recreates but either of these songs would sit comfortably in that time. For a more recent comparison if you took the quieter moments from Soundtrack Of Our Lives you'd be in the same ball park.
For fans of late night smoking sessions and easy on the ear psychedelica this will do just nicely and it will be interesting to see if the rest of the album can keep this groove going.