Goin' Round In My Mind - The Merrell Fankhauser Anthology 1964-1979

An integral player on the Southern California music scene, the young Merrell Fankhauser's budding career took off in 1964 after his family relocated to the Antelope Valley area of the Western Mojave Desert. With the likes of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart also active in the area, Frankhauser hooked up with 14-year-old guitarist Jeff Cotton to form Merrell And The Exiles, a teen pop outfit who had a couple of local hits. In 1967 Merrell put together Fapardokly, whose limited edition LP is now one of the rarest US psychedelic albums. Fapardokly mutated into HMS Bounty, signed by UNI Records president Russ Regan. An HMS Bounty album was headed by 'Things (Goin' Round In My Mind)', an insidious slice of bubblegum that fell just short of becoming a hit single. HMS Bounty then gave way to Mu, a partial reformation of The Exiles that reunited Merrell with Jeff Cotton, who meanwhile had been a key member of Captain Beefheart's band during the Trout Mask Replica days. After an acclaimed 1971 album, Mu moved to the Hawaiian island of Maui before breaking up. Merrell stayed on the island, living in a self-built jungle cabin and recording The Maui Album before returning to the mainland. A 6CD that includes the various 1964-1979 albums and singles in their entirety as well as numerous out-takes from the same time-frame, Goin' Round In My Mind newly- remastered, and featuring a new 5000 word essay is a fitting tribute to the prodigious career of a legendary cult talent.