You have to hand it to an artist, especially one that is not likely making a ton of money to begin with, for dedicating his time and resources to a project like the Lovetones. The brain child of Matthew J. Tow, the Lovetones, for the uninitiated, are a super-groovy psychedelic pop outfit, and their latest, Dimensions, is an album out of time, and multiple times at that. Tow’s baritone recalls the Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward in “Song to Humanity,” “Love and Redemption” is a direct ancestor to “Eve of Destruction,” and the instantly memorable “Journeyman” works the Mellotron like nobody’s business. It’s all quite lovely – though it often borders on laconic – and critics eat this stuff up because it reminds them of their youth (this writer included, sort of). The band’s problem, as it were, is that ’60s psychedelia is purely a niche market in today’s climate; the last time this album had a chance of reaching a wide audience was with fans of the Church or as an after-hours chill record for the Love & Rockets crowd in the late ’80s. Give Tow credit for doing what he loves, but don’t be surprised if this turns out to be the last thing the Lovetones ever do. Cold hard reality has a way of fucking up things like this. (Planting Seeds 2009)

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