Machingbyrd"Illusion" 1980 US Psych Folk

Machingbyrd "The Road to Forbidden Ecstacy" 1980 US Private Acid Folk.

This has taken me forever to sort out and the file info has driven me insane thanks to this
dying computer. The album is entitled 'The Road to Forbidden Ecstacy' (the files may still be
named 'ecstasy', if they are please re-title), released in 1980 by a man named Michael Engberg
under the pseudonym of Machingbyrd - pronounced 'mach' (as in the speed Mach 3), 'ing', 'bird'.
I managed to pick this up about one and a half years ago off an internet store for a fraction of
other prices I'd seen (ebay). It was still sealed, but because of the fact it had been sealed
for 27 years the record came a bit bowl warped (hence the much lower price). Hopefully you won't
notice that in this replication, to my ears the quality is very good.
Overall it's a very pleasing acid folk album, one of the many that have been lost in time.
~ by disconcerted.

Very rare US acid/folk gem with deep vocals,dreamy keys,tenor sax passages,
electric guitar backings,fuzz flashes,folk/rock moves,stoned feel,hippie vibe…
~ By: Philmarie (RYM).

This record caught my attention on the Acid Archives when it was described as, "folk and
folkrock with psych moves, acoustic and electric guitars, some synth embellishments."
Thought it sounded interesting and so the hunt to find a cheap(ish) copy of the original few
that were pressed begun.
Now owning an unplayed copy of the album - well, was unplayed until I got my hands on it! - it
had to be heard. I was maybe figuring it would be something like the Dreamies project of Bill
Holt, but it's a lot less synth orientated. It's almost as much a jazzy folk album as much as
it is psych folk.
If you get a copy I'd highly recommend playing it through some decent headphones if only for
'By your leave's kicking bass drum. I can't seem to hear it through normal speakers, but when
the headphones are on it sends my ears insane, the air displacement is fantastic. 'By your
leave' is one of the best tracks on the album in my opinion, with that bass drum, the French
vocals and the nice synth soundscape, it works beautifully.
'His wildest dreams' (track 8) is really the only track that shows off the synthesiser and he
really knew how to incorporate it well into his music. The short solo is excellent and really
helps make it one of the stand out tracks.
The last track, 'Mary B Reel', the only instrumental piece on the album, is a great piece of
folk guitar that wouldn't sound out of place on something like Sir Richard Bishop's recent
'Polytheistic Fragments' album. Timeless.
The only downside of the album is that sometimes the vocals are a bit of a let down, but they're
not terrible and something that can definitely be appreciated in accompaniment with the music.
I also have to admit that my rating partly reflects the fact that this is a rare piece and that
I'm proud to be an owner of a copy, but on the music alone I definitely wouldn't rate this below
3.5. Fairest would probably be 4/5.
These days he is making music under his own name, Michael Engberg.
~ By: Disconcerted (RYM).