The weird thing about this is that it's the songs from a Canadian state funded play ("Where It's At" - I think it was Toronto's arts council but I forget) that was kind of positioned as the Canadian Hair. Except it had good music.

Their first album was probably better over all, though.

I've heard Lydia Purple before, but probably only the version by Giant Crab. I liked reading that they were into composing their own music and wanted to refuse suggestions that they do Lydia, but they needed a single to release.

I've heard songs from the Hair soundtrack a lot and listen to it as a treat, but this music is heavier and with a tighter band, at least as played here. I wonder if there's a cast recording of this?

I see the that the first album has a song epic, What Love Suite.. I want to listen to Collectors more, thanks for adding this to the site, I think these guys sound great!

Boomer

The only recording of it I know of is the LP Grass and Wild Strawberries, which I really like. The best parts of i remind me a bit of the Pretty Things album Parachute but with a kind of Canadian prog-psych feel a bit like Mashmakhan's first (only?) album. I also like the way they use the sax in their arrangements, it's more like something of of a Morphine album than what their contemporaries did when they had horns. These are probably my favorite tracks from the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-7ARXhCsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ5YKBeYoEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXJhghGqa5w

I don't really have a problem with Hair, to be honest, but it doesn't do much for me since I'm not particularly in to musical theater in general. I like the solo album of original songs Sally Eaton (the "Hippie Witch" in the original cast) did a few years later, though.

Thanks for introducing me to these guys, I do like the addition of the sax, it gives a different sound without taking over as a horn can do.

I've watched the videos you posted, and I'm going to check out the other bands you mentioned too. I know there's lots of great Canadian rock, or course long ago I heard bands like Rush and Chilliwack, then a lot later Max Webster and Stampeders etc.

The Sheepdogs won the Rolling Stone band battle a few years ago, from Saskatoon, and of course I was rooting for those guys.. :) Had to put that in.

I used to hear Canadian AM rock stations here in Pennsylvania that played songs I'd never heard and thought they were great.

I heard songs from those rock operas, Hair, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar.

Boomer

It looks like Mashmakhan has at least two albums, Mashmakhan, 1970 and The Family, 1971.