Beagle Hat: Magical Hat (2006)

File this one under "Retro Kitsch Psychedelic Pop You Almost Certainly Haven't Heard But Will Thank Me For Later."  Don't know much about the band -- apparently a Japanese power pop act that, for English-language vocal duties, hired David Paton, the former vocalist from Pilot (best remembered for timeless '70s hit "Magic," and which later evolved into the Alan Parsons Project).  It's a glorious pastiche, Magical Mystery Tour coupled with seventies kitsch like Gilbert O'Sullivan (and Pilot) and later faux-psychedelia like XTC side project Dukes of Stratosphear or the Pillbugs or Jellyfish, not to mention the Beatlesque prog of Klaatu.  Something like that.  Whatever the influences, it's a fantastic slice of joyously dense pop music.

Alas, it doesn't stream on Spotify, and I have no idea if you can even find this anywhere (I don't even remember how I stumbled across it in the first place), but here are a few audio rips from YouTube, and if you don't fall in love with these immediately there is something seriously wrong.  Shall we just listen to a few songs together?

"Wrecker Pulls Away":

"Casgabarl!":

"On My Way":

"Fairyland":

And here's "Half Invisible Man" (which has more of a quirky new wave sound than much of the album but is still fun):

Finally, here's a live take on "Look For Another Submarine" (performed, I think, without Paton):

Anyway, the album is a delight.  Go find it!  (The band later teamed up with Paton for a second album, Orange Groove, but I have yet to be able to track that one down anywhere.)