In the mid-'80s, a movement of Los Angeles denizens later described as the Paisley Underground rebelled against new wave and hair metal by getting psychedelic and pretending that it was 1967 all over again, replete with Rickenbackers and sunshine pop. The bands involved in the Paisley Underground included the Three O’Clock, Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, and even The Bangles before they walked away like Egyptians all the way to the bank.

While all this was going on in sunny C.A., a band out of mopey Seattle, Washington were taking notes, and decided to try their own hand at 60s-influenced pop-rock. The band, Green Pajamas, weren’t directly a part of the Paisley Underground, but nearly reproduced the guitar-heavy pop of their contemporaries in California. Looking back, the Paisley Underground produced a few noteworthy albums, a few fantastic singles, but more or less peaked out while Reagan was still in office. Not content to let go like their peers, Green Pajamas pressed onward right into the new millennium, and their newest release, Box of Secrets: Northern Gothic 2 is their eighteenth full-length album.

Where bright chords and chiming guitars were probably a godsend for eighties pop fans, the Green Pajamas’ sound has morphed into one that is pleasant, vaguely alt-country, and all too comfortable. Northern Gothic 2 not only lack the dynamics and surprises that make the best of contemporary pop interesting, but the songs are weighed down by an unnecessary dollop of syrupy instrumentation and heavy-handed lyricism.

“Katie’s Gone” starts the album in a middle-of-the-road vein replete with crisp electric and acoustic guitar and vocals from lead singer and songwriter Jeff Kelly – all of which is coated with an overproduced sheen more appropriate for a roots-rock record than an album by neo-psychedelic vanguards. Speaking of psychedelia, what trippy-ness the Green Pajamas once possessed has been ironed out in the studio and supplanted with all manners of out-of-date synthesizers, guitar overdubs, and other non-essentials. When the album finds a groove, it kicks for sure - “When You’re Good to Me” is a raucous, alt-country workout that only occasionally drops the ball, like when Kelly oddly intones, “And you’re beautiful tonight / with that black stuff on your eyes.” Otherwise, it’s a perfect din of sweet rock that shows this band’s potential and reveals each musician’s consummate skill.

It’s a shame the rest of the album doesn’t work as well, but again, few bands have kept it going as long as the Green Pajamas, and that means they’ve got quite a back catalog to peruse, if you'd like to hear more. Evolution is always good, but sometimes it pays to look to the past, as the Green Pajamas know well.

Green Pajamas MySpace
Green Pajamas Website