It’s not clear where to place this track. Are we hearing some form of proto-metal, or has the Jefferson Airplane blimp been shot down and replaced with the flag of a rival vocalist? In 1969, The Savage Rose’s founder siblings (Thomas and Anders Koppel) were only at the beginning of their wide-eyed adventure into rock ‘n’ roll territory and were no wiser. By their early twenties the brothers could claim the distinction of calling themselves a composer and a novelist in their turn, but by their own account they threw away the honors to follow what the kids on the street were doing. From the start they seemed to welcome into the project whatever was current and appealed to them. Thus they adopted the stray blues alley cat Annisette and later harnessed her powerful voice in the service of several musical experiments, some of the dodgy gospel variety. The band discovered more than a new style in rock ‘n’ roll — rather a whole new pioneering attitude, which sent them a little overboard sometimes, sympathizing with the Black Panther movement in the 70s for instance. Anyway, their almost cosmic ambitions are already evident in “Trial in Our Native Town.” These ambitions didn’t make them much money, and their own version of excess was far from selling out. It was the slightly scatty pursuit of the hippie ideal. The strident organ on the last track of their 1968 album In the Plain is one of the most distinctive features of the band, and together with Annisette’s voice it publishes their revolutionary intentions loud and clear.
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