The Aquarian Age – 10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box – 1968

The Aquarian Age was a band formed by Twink and Junior in the wake of
their former band, Tomorrow’s, dissolution. They released only one
single, but it is a British psychedelic classic. The A-side features
the magnificent “10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box,” which Twink would
later re-record for his 1970 solo album, Think Pink. This original
version of “10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box” features a much harsher
attack on their former band mate, Keith West, with a chorus of “How do
you do? It’s not nice to see you. Nice to have seen you. Goodbye,”
which was removed from Twink’s later solo version, and the song moves
at a much faster pace than Twink’s slow, spacey solo version. The
contradictions in each line of the lyrics are great, as is the
instrumentation and array of weird sounds (notice the violin solo) in
the background. The B-side is a fun novelty piece of nonsense entitled
“Good Wizzard Meets Naughty Wizzard,” which tells the story of a good
wizard who meets a naughty wizard and attempts to blot out his mischief
by turning him good. However, his spell backfires and he turns the
naughty wizard into a frog. After forgetting how to reverse the spell
for a while, the good wizard is able to eventually return the naughty
wizard to his original state. The naughty wizard promptly turns the
good wizard into a lizard and the song ends. This is a fun B-side, and
Twink is clearly enjoying himself as he uses different voices for the
two characters. This is a fun single and a great example of the many
facets of British psychedelia. For those who are interested in these
songs, they are available as bonus tracks on the remastered version of
Tomorrow’s album Ref:
http://codysgardenofearthlydelights.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/aquarian-age-10000-words-in-cardboard.html