the misunderstood

digging the mp3's on the website of the misunderstood, perhaps the ultimate flowering of 'meercun garage-psych, part three of whose story i've been reading in ugly things #22. hailing from riverside, cali, and championed by brit dj john peel, they relocated to the u.k. in '66 and cut classic sides "children of the sun" and "find the hidden door" before the vietnam draft snatched up a coupla band mbrs, one of whom went awol and wound up in india (um, giving the lie to john sinclair's contention in the mc5*a true testimonial flick that "_nobody_ joined the army!"). the misunderstood were like an american yardbirds, combining over-the-top energy and out-of-their-heads experimentalismo in exactly the same way as the muy influential brit combo, and even had a virtuoso instrumentalist a la messrs. clapton/beck/page in the form of steel gtrist glenn ross campbell (who later logged time in juicy lucy and joe cocker's band). awesome stuff.