by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Afterglow starts with &Morning,& a gentle folk-rock song that finds the middle ground between the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane. Although there are a couple of tracks similar to &Morning& on the album, it is no more an indication of what's to follow as any other song on the record. Each song on Afterglow sounds as if it could have been written by different bands -- sure, there is the sighing &Mend This Heart of Mine,& but it follows the downright bizarre &Susie's Gone,& awhich, with its dissonant Farfisa organs and slide guitars, sounds like a space voyage gone bad. It's not particularly coherent, and it isn't particularly good -- the group isn't just derivative, but also doesn't have a sharp sense of melody -- but its sampler nature makes Afterglow a charming psychedelic relic.