Kensington Market
Aardvark
In 1969, Kensington Market released their third and final LP, 'Aardvark.' This album is a weird and wonderful mini-masterpiece upon which much of Kensington Market's reputation rests. This time out there were no silly jug-band tracks and many of the albums ideas are fully formed and well thought out. Some of the songs, like the beautiful, trippy 'Cartoon' and the ahead-of-its-time 'Help,' use primitive synthesizer in all the right ways. 'Help' sounds like a lost Flaming Lips track with its open arrangement and blissed-out guitar playing. Other tracks like 'Think About The Times' and 'If It Is Love' have more of a melancholy air but are equally excellent and reveal a more pessimistic side of the band. Kensington Market were produced by Felix Pappalardi of Mountain fame, who also produced the Cream. On 'Aardvark,' he is credited with "musical direction" as well as production, and it shows in the heaviness, and the wistful, surreal weirdness of most of the tracks (similar in flavor to Cream's 'Wheels Of Fire' and the Mountain albums), even contributing a short interval piano piece called 'Ciao.'