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Phluph is another one of those bands who recorded one LP and then disappeared. The story behind this band in particular is interesting, as it tells a story of how record companies plan the career of a band based on a marketing idea, and how consumers and the media relate to the whole thing:

The “Bosstown Sound” was started as a publicity campaign by producer Alan Lorber, aiming to market the various Boston based psychedelic bands on MGM’s books (The Ultimate Spinach, Eden’s Children etc) as being part of one singular movement. The idea was to rival the burgeoning San Francisco scene as well as the Mersey-Beat sound that was being imported from across the Atlantic. Unfortunately the rock critics and the underground took umbrage at what they deemed was a shallow corporate attempt at selling the counter-culture back to them as a package.

There was strong anti-establishment feeling at this time because of the Vietnam War, and this helped to fuel the fire against the Boston scene. This coupled with the subsequent pressure from those on the West Coast who declaimed them as frauds, meant that many of the bands became black- listed, never getting the sales figures that they deserved.

Phluph never survived the backlash and disappeared, leaving behind their sole album cut for Verve in 1968.

-Gerard Fannon, Suite101

Alan Lorber, the man who ‘invented’ the Boston Scene, shared his thoughts on the phenomena in an article in Goldmine Magazine in 1992.

You can buy the album in mp3 from Amazon, or listen to it on Spotify. Here’s a little taste, the snappy ‘Ellyptical Machine’:

Ellyptical Machine

Phluph is actually on myspace too, so head over there and listen to a couple more tracks.