Five Day Week Straw People - Five Day Week Straw People

Lost UK low-budget psych-pop classic disinterred

Or A Day In The Life Of… well, actually, a couple of budding 60s songsmiths who wrote a suite of songs for the budget cash-in label Saga Records, recorded them in an afternoon with a pick-up band and inadvertently created a minor classic of UK psych-pop.

A glorious snapshot of London circa 1968, Five Day Week… mixes Ray Davies-esque observations with cod-Floyd soundscapes, the lo-fi recording at odds with the ambition of the songs. Titles such as Car Wash, Postman and Does It Rain testify to the mundane subject matter, but the melodic sensibilities of writers Montague and Mascolo, and the sheer sonic attack of the band (future Andromedans John Du Cann, Mick Hawksworth and Jack McCulloch) make this a lowbudget companion piece to Billy Nicholls’ Would You Believe.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

RPM | RETRO 812

Reviewed by Steve Rippon
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