Balaklava LP

Balaklava is a dramatic record with overdubs and tape manipulation and songs that seem to channel existential rage at those who continue to bring us into war. But it’s not as simple as “I ain’t marching anymore.” Rapp gets this across with references to civil war deserters and allegorical stories of lepers and roses. So few albums are able to explore man’s most debased nature while also using the glory and transcendence of nature (in lyrical snippets and sound bites) to achieve a graceful kind of protest. “I Saw the World” and “Images of April” are a fusion of Leonard Cohen, Tim Buckley, and Phil Ochs—yet with a spiritual quality that makes the songs feel like they came from the age of William Blake, not Peter Blake.

Released 1968