The Sound Of Feeling - Spleen (Limelight 1967)

Probably one of the scariest records I own....and best!

The whole set is a strange mix of psychadelic 60's dreamy pop vocals, sung and spoken, along with elements of free jazz and modal grooves. The group is fronted by the vocal trio of Gary David and the sisters Alyce and Rhae Andrece who all together handle the vocal-arrangements on the album. The backing instrumention is a cool mix of drums, harp, flute, soprano and alto saxophone, moog, cello and undoubtly the most unusual of them all; the microtonal-vibraphone (!). It is made up of twelve tones out of a 20 tone group and gives some really wierd quarter-tone intervals. (Music-theory class stops here...)
Whole album is fantastic but the standout tracks for me is "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Along Came Sam", slow & lazy grooves that is litteraly made for sampling. Check out the spoken word parts in the second one, it dosen't get better than that. Also contains a nice version of Simon and Garfunkels all time classic "The Sound Of Silence".
Is this what Portishead would have sounded in the 60's?

The Andrece sisters

Here's what dustygroove has to say:

An incredible record from this enigmatic vocal group! Sound Of Feeling were an ultra hip trio (2 gals, 1 guy) who recorded under the aegis of Leonard Feather at the end of the 60s -- and who worked in a mode that combined sweet harmony vocals, sunshine pop, and some surprisingly experimental touches! The tunes on this set are a weird blend of dreamy numbers and other tunes that really push the boundaries of vocal expression -- very tripped-out numbers that are a bit like some of the later experimental work by the Swingle II ensemble.

Original vinyl rip @ 320 kbit/s