Balaklava was the second album recorded and released by psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine in 1968.

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For the album, original group members Tom Rapp, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP recorded on ESP-Disk titled "One Nation Underground," it was recorded at Impact Sound  in New York City. Recordings took place sometime in early 1968, but no records exist of the sessions. Some CD reissues have stated that it was recorded in 1965, but this is an error, as Lederer left the group during or shortly after the recordings and the basic group was augmented by studio musicians.

Rapp has stated ^[2] that he wanted to produce a themed anti-war album, and chose the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava in 1854 as an example of the futility of war. The album was dedicated to Private Edward Slovik, the only United States soldier executed for desertion during the Second World War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaklava_(album)

Translucent Carriages 

The translucent carriages 
Drawing morning in 
Dawn inside their pockets 
Like a whisper on the wind 

( [whispered:] The caravans are leaving 
For the dawn of nothing 
Lepers carry roses 
To Jerusalem) 

Every time I see you passing by 
I have to wonder why 

The soft touch of your words 
Has been betrayed like love grown old 
Or the silhouettes of children 
Crying somewhere in the cold 

( [whispered:] In peace 
Sons bury their fathers 
In war 
Fathers bury their sons) 

Every time I see you passing by 
I have to wonder why 

The ancient night is coming back 
The light is fading out 
The tree is hid in shadow 
In a fog of useless doubt 

( [whispered:] Love is silent 
At the edge of the universe 
Waiting 
To come in) 

Every time I see you passing by 
I have to wonder why 

Go away go away 
The imperative is drawn 
All your symbols are shattered 
All your sacred words are gone 

( [whispered:] Jesus raised the dead 
But who 
Will raise the living?) 

Every time I see you passing by 
I have to wonder why 

--song written by Herodotus, Wayne Harley & Tom Rapp

Comment: Man in his folly. We are so beautiful. So ugly. So peaceful. So barbarous. So loving. So hate-filled. So creative. So destructive. So life-affirming. So death-wishful. Get the picture? Choice is everything. And of course without Love we are nothing.

Added bonus: Balaklava (full album)

My semi-zen take: Poignant lyric here. Pretty much comports with how I myself try imperfectly to approach what I think might be to some degree a piece/part/portion of the shadow of something we call objective reality. If the cosmos crashes back together again at some point or whether the galaxies & stars & planets get further & further away from each other until all are in solitude, then what the heck? Do Joy, do Love. Was it really such a bad unrealistic adolescent dream? Before the twisted pseudo-adult cynicism set in?  There were sermons once on mounts & plains by teachers of righteousness & light & I guess they were killed off too. The corrupt Powers That Be must be defrocked! They'll do themselves in. Wait & see. Patience...patience. We're getting closer now. There is no human nature, only human behavior. The full spectrum. And choice is the key. Which side are you on? Homo economicus ignoramus? Or Homo humanus?

I Saw the World

I saw the world
Spinning like a toy
Spinning like a toy
Hate seems so small
Compared to it all
So why don't you do joy

Why must you stand
Holding your own hand
Why won't you see me
Why won't you help me
Why won't you love me

Hate is a chain
It all comes back again
It all comes back again
Everything you do
Returns at last to you
So why don't you do love

Why must you stand
Holding your own hand
Why won't you see me
Why won't you help me
Why won't you love me

I saw the world
Spinning like a toy
Spinning like a toy

--song written by Tom Rapp

Lepers & Roses

The halo morning has dissolved
The day is gone
And nothing's solved
For you

The sand castles are merely sand
The sea has crawled back
From your hand
Too soon

In fields where Susan sings
The leopard brings
Yesterday
In upon a string

And all your dead rainbows
Begin to stain
The lace on your raincoat

So leave the blind
Roses behind
You

Orpheus takes you by the hand
Leads you into another land
Land without shade
Where trees are made

For you, Teresius
Will try to find
A monument
To the death of eyes

So leave the blind
Roses behind
You

If you knew tomorrow was
Just yesterday
Hiding behind a mask
What would you ask?
What could you ask?

Alpha and Omega laugh
Behind a glass
Sell bootstraps from a bag
Nowhere to hide
The rest is a lie

So leave the blind
Roses behind
You

--song written by Tom Rapp

In a nutshell the Balaklava album's concept theme is: Mortality. Denoting how to remain human, not degenerate into an irredeemable reprobate.

0:00 - Trumpeter Landfrey 0:35 - Translucent Carriages 4:37 - Images Of April 7:18 - There Was A Man 10:15 - I Saw The World 13:44 - Guardian Angels 16:47 - Suzanne 21:49 - Lepers And Roses 27:15 - Florence Nightingale 27:31 - Ring Thing