Silver Apples, Silver Apples (side A)

Most reviews of this 1968 Silver Apples album emphasize its differences from everything else at the time.  I tried instead to think of its similarities.  The overt jazz influences in the drumming resemble some of Spencer Dryden's work with the Airplane.  The thin and largely unprocessed vocals are handled a bit like Lou Reed's in the Velvet Underground.  The songwriting sometimes reminds me of the United States of America, while Fifty Foot Hose might be a reference point for the electronics (or even Lothar and the Hand People).  While Silver Apples also remind me in ways of 70s albums from Sparks to Faust to Daily Dance, their debut feels to me, in many ways, a part of the American underground of its era.  The shiny silver cover is, of course, impressive.