Genre: pop
Rating: 2 stars **
Title:  Vol. 2
Company: Decca
Catalog: SSS 538
Year: 1968
Country/State: Ghent, Belgium
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: --
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 5743
Price: $100.00

It's hard to imagine that The New Inspiration's 1968 debut album "Inspirated" sold all that well, but within a matter of months their label Decca pushed a sophomore New Inspiration set on the market - 1968's cleverly-titled "Vol 2". Just speculation on my part, but part of the decision to release the album may have stemmed from the unexpected successes the band enjoyed with a pair of earlier Dave Berry-penned singles:

 

- 'I See No Reason Why' b/w ' Grey Hair, Wrinkled Skin' (Decca catalog number 105 23.762)
- 'Mr. Moody' b/w 'The Memory' (Decca catalog number 105 23.796)

Produced by J. Verdonck, this time out the band seemed content to pursue a more commercial and mainstream sound. 'I See No Reason Why' was probably the most accessible track, explaining why it had been released as a single. 'Mr. Moody' was kind of a strange pop-psych effort that sounded like it should have been released two or three years earlier. With Berry responsible for writing all twelve numbers, tracks like 'Looking for My Baby', 'You Won't Come Tomorrow' and 'Memory' offered up rather MOR pop moves that were clearly geared to radio play. Smothered in saccharine string arrangements, imagine a Flemish version of Tom Jones and you'd get a feel for what most of this sounded like. While the whole album was never less than pleasant, the debut's eclectic edge was sadly missed. So was there anything worth hearing on the album? Overlooking the oddball title, the big ballad 'They'r Drowing My Town' (their spelling, not mine) was kind of cool. Unlike most of the album this one featured a bit of fuzz guitar and it was kind of fun to hear the singer muddy the lyrics to a point where it sounded like he was saying 'they're drowning my guitar'. Kicked along by a nice fuzz guitar and a droning melody, 'See My Car ' was an atypical stab at psych and easily the best song on the album. Would've made a great single. True, the lyrics sounded like they'd been penned by a 1st grader, but given it was stripped of heavy orchestration, the garagy 'I'm Going Nowhere' wasn't half bad. True, the lyrics sounded like they'd been penned by a 1st grader. Finally complete with cheesy sound effects 'Rudy the Marsman' (aka mars man) was simply too weird to aptly describe. Yeah, I could try to hype it, but compared to the debut this one was a major disappointment. 

"Vol. 2" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) I See No Reason Why (Dave Berry) 
2.) Mr. Moody (Dave Berry) 
3.) Looking for My Baby (Dave Berry) 
4.) You Won't Come Tomorrow (Dave Berry) 
5.) They'r Drowing My Town (Dave Berry) 
6.) Memory (Dave Berry) 

(side 2)
1.) Nobody (Dave Berry) 
2.) See My Car (Dave Berry) 
3.) Nightime Story (Dave Berry) 
4.) I Know We'll Stay (Dave Berry) 
5.) I'm Going Nowhere (Dave Berry) 
6.) Rudy the Massman (Dave Berry) 

YouTube also had a clip from a 1988 reunion concert in Ghent. Sound and picture quality aren't great, but you have to take what you can get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YPbfl8zzTk
'Mr. Moody'