Although you may not have heard of him, you are at least karmically aware of Merrell Fankhauser’s work. Quickly after writing the still often-referenced “Wipe Out” surf-rock signature piece with The Impacts in the early ’60s, he founded MU with Antenna Jimmy Semens (Captain Beefheart) as well as the freak-folk Fapardokly, which melded into Merrell Fankhauser & The H.M.S. Bounty. Those projects only produced a handful of LPs, but they are all highly sought after by serious vinyl geeks. Trust me, this trend has helped shape almost every dusty record bin you’ve poked through since such things first started forming in garages and flea markets.
After becoming disillusioned with the music industry in the early ’70s, Merrell, his violinist wife, and MU, his band at the time, all escaped to Hawaii. Mary Lee and Merrell built a Tarzan nest in a Maui rainforest after hearing the island may have had remnants of the sunken Mu civilization, and dug into the surroundings for what would end up being seven years. His band didn’t last long, though; half of them left to become Christian ministers on the mainland, as addressed in the song “Some of Them Escaped.” So, by the time there was enough material to warrant a recording excursion to Los Angeles in 1975, it was just Merrell, Mary, and some session musicians (hence his first solo album). It sold in small numbers on a local island indie label, then, like the tragedy that followed so much of his work, just kinda faded away into strategically placed vinyl troughs.
That’s where Anthology comes in. Now with seven bonus tracks, Maui is complete and restored for the über-nerd, who can’t find or afford the original LP, to see how Merrell’s sound progressed since his prominent late-’60s acid phase. Being as it was recorded and released in the mid-’70s, the studio sounds reflect less of the razorblade fuzz charm of his earlier work and more of the glossy sheen that came with newer, more accurate equipment, while his lyrics, despite still being based on abstract mysticism and myth, ooze a wiser, more honest maturity.
“The music business has got more sharks than there are in the sea/ They stole my songs and they stole my girl, but they can’t steal me” from “Sail It Over The Ocean” isn’t just dreary bitching, after all. It’s an affirmation of the choices he made, having already acknowledged the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. The high strung, plucky, BJ Thomas-like “I Saw Your Photograph” deserves to go down in history as one of the catchiest and happiest pop love songs of all time, and it’s just one of the moments here that compel you to smile. As such, the quality of these songs will see most of them outlive the style in which they were recorded. Rock sure doesn’t produce many characters like this any more.
