THE RISING STORM

Al Kooper’s debut should really be heard by more people. This record was released by Columbia in 1968, sometime after Kooper had left the original Blood, Sweat and Tears. Casual listeners know Kooper as a mid-60’s Bob Dylan sideman, sometimes Mike Bloomfield/Shuggie Otis collaborator, respected record producer and keyboard player in the legendary underground New York City group, the Blues Project. Kooper left behind many fine solo records in the late 60’s and 70’s but I Stand Alone is something special, a disc that captures it’s place and time very well.

I Stand Alone is one of those records that’s inventive in a post Sgt. Pepper way, ambitious in its wide array of styles, experimental within a pop context and bound to confuse at least a few listeners. It’s amazing that Kooper’s solo work and the first Blood, Sweat and Tears record have never been reassessed for the great records they are. I Stand Alone is a strong listen all the way through, divided evenly between originals and well chosen covers. The disc opens with the title track, which was recorded in Nashville and is one of Kooper’s signature tunes. Had this strange but wonderful Nashville blue-eyed soul hybrid been released as a single it may have had a chance at reaching the charts. About half the tracks are in a pop sike vein. Kooper does a nice job covering Nilsson’s One and stretches out with the Kooperfone on an excellent reading of Traffic’s Coloured Rain. Song and Dance for the Unborn, Frightened Child is somewhat similar to one of the more arty, psychedelic cuts on Blood, Sweat and Tears debut, it’s an excellent, elaborate production though and proof that strings and horns can work well in the rock n roll format. Other tracks see Kooper cover classics by Sam & Dave (Toe Hold), Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff (Hey, Western Union Man) and Bill Monroe (Blue Moon of Kentucky). Blue Moon of Kentucky, which Elvis also covered in 1969, is a wild bluegrass rockabilly take on the classic that was clearly a homage to the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

All the covers are great and Kooper gives his own individual stamp on each song but of course it’s the originals that grab your attention. The Stonesy swagger of Camille and the dreamy Impressions-like I Can’t Love A Woman are killer soul songs and two of Al Kooper’s best in this particular style. Another classic on the album, Right Now For You, sounds like a really good British psychedelic track with very trippy Kooperfone which sounds well ahead of it’s time. This is an undeniably great album by an artist who should really be looked at with the same esteem as say a John Cale, Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa. Al Kooper is one of New York’s great musicians and his contributions to rock music have been tremendous. In 2008, Raven reissued I Stand Alone with Kooper’s 1969 followup lp, You Never Know Who Your Friends Are on compact disc. Both lps are a must.

mp3: I Can Love A Woman
mp3: Right Now For You

CD Reissue | 2008 | Raven | buy from Raven | buy from amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1968 | Columbia | search ebay ]

Fantastic album from an English group that bridged the psychedelic and progressive worlds together. East of Eden had put out a non lp single prior to their debut album, Mercator Projected, which was released in 1969 off Decca. The band formed in 1967 and was centered around classically trained violinist Dave Arbus, guitarist Geoff Nicholson and vocalist/sax player Ron Caines.

The group had a strong underground following in London and in other parts of Europe but never attained the widespread success they deserved. Arbus’ flute, violin, and sax played a prominent role in East of Eden’s sound and on any given night they could have easily upstaged similar, like-minded bands such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra or Colosseum. Many of these songs have a clear Eastern influence as heard on the experimental Waterways. Waterways starts out as a trippy pop-sike number with lots of mellotron that eventually morphs into an explosive, metallic hard rocking raga piece. The opener, Nothern Hemisphere is a menacing, bass heavy piece of progressive rock that is somewhat similar to early King Crimson in its power and fury. In fact King Crimson’s debut may be Mercator Projected’s closest reference point. It’s difficult to mix classical, blues, jazz, folk, hard rock and psychedelia into a seemless whole but somehow East of Eden does this well. They shine on the classic jazz-psychedelic instrumental In The Stable of the Spinx and completely dismantle the superb blues-rock number Centaur Woman into something new and avant garde. There’s even a few good psychedelic pop tracks (Moth and Bathers) on an album known for its progressive tendencies.

All the songs are really good and there are few early progressive albums that are better than Mercator Projected. It’s all very intense in an English sort of way but there is no denying the greatness and talent that is packed within this record and group. In 1970 they would release another classic album, Snafu before taking a 360 turn and becoming a wasted country-rock outfit. The recent Esoteric disc is recommended as it includes the original album along with some interesting demos, which include an excellent cover of Eight Miles High.

mp3: Waterways

CD Reissue | 2008 | Esoteric | buy from amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1969 | Deram | search at ebay ]

Van Dyke is best known for his work with Brian Wilson, penning lines said to drive Mike Love crazy during the Smile era. (”I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city I’ve been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long, long time.”) Beyond his work with the Beach Boys, Parks had an impressive and varied career, often working with a number of other groups, as varied as Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Byrds, Tim Buckley — all the way to Joanna Newsom. His marvelous solo debut, Song Cycle, is a classic and poetic tour de force.

Musically, I imagine it as a “song spiral.” Motifs aren’t recycled or revisited as much as they are abandoned for new ideas. The orchestration is borne of the poetry, the words directing each instrumental movement. Song Cycle is an album to let yourself soak in, to stay with for a week or even a year. I also recommend listening with the lyric sheet in hand because the layered sound of ever-changing chamber orchestra can be heavy for the mind to absorb concurrently with the poetry.

Being a fan of SMiLE most likely won’t offer a free pass to Song Cycle. The album is dense and difficult to infiltrate. There are traces of inspiration here and there, possibly a glimpse to what Brian could have done with SMiLE if he’d had the encouragement Van Dyke had in Lenny Waronker.

Truthfully speaking, I can’t really understand the concept behind the album. As far as I have read, the record was meant to span a breadth of American musical styles. I know the touch of bluegrass (Steve Young singing Black Jack Davy in a clip that introduces the record) and the homage to Gershwin/Showtune styles, a taste of jazz, but I just don’t really get it. While I’m happy to enjoy what is still unknown to me, for I do love this album, I would be grateful to hear from those who can lighten the mystery of Song Cycle.

mp3: Palm Desert
mp3: Donovan’s Colours

Vinyl Reissue | 2007 | Sundazed | buy ]
CD | 1990 | Warner | amazon ]

The United States of America album is the product of Joseph Byrd, former FLUXUS member, artist and UCLA instructor who managed to combine experimental art and early synthesizer technology with psychedelic rock in creating this brilliant record. Employing percussion instruments, electric violin and acoustic strings, electric bass, various keyboards, homemade oscillators and ring modulators, and Dorothy Moskowitz’s confident soprano, this record shows surprising pop capability for an avant garde project.

This is truly a pioneering record and worth your attention. Everybody wouldn’t be expected to sit through campy synth exercises like I Wouldn’t Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar, but many tracks hold up as strong experimental rock numbers. It’s a must listen for fans of ear candy, or for those who love delving into the details of these albums. Tracks like the opener, The American Metaphysical Circus, feature layers of burbly oscillators, organ, calliope and what must be sound effects or field recordings. Other tunes tear it apart pretty hard for a guitar-less album like Hard Coming Love and some more restrained numbers make great careful listening material like the excellent Cloud Song. Dorothy’s vocals are very good and lead with unexpectedly memorable lines.

The melodies and flow of the record, the sampled recurring themes, and the politically charged lyrics give this album a concept record feel. It was critically acclaimed on its release in 1968 but failed to sell, of course. The band broke up after their masterful debut though Byrd would continue to create experimental music and Moskowitz would eventually sing with Country Joe McDonald.

Sundazed just reissued this album as a hi-def vinyl LP, and for a limited run it will be packaged with a repro of the manilla envelope that came with the original. If this one has been hovering on your list for years, now is the time to pick it up!

mp3: The American Metaphysical Circus
mp3: Coming Down

Vinyl Reissue | 2008 | Sundazed | Buy from Sundazed ]
CD Reissue | 2004 | Sundazed | Buy from Sundazed | amazon]

Split Enz, a band that Australia would dearly love to call its own, was formed in New Zealand in 1973. Their early albums and legendary live performances conjured a dedicated fan base that fed and clothed the band until radio friendly unit shifters like “I See Red “ and “I Got You“ made the band a household name. Their influence and legacy in the Antipodes cannot be underestimated.

The nucleus of the group in 1975 was Tim Finn and Phil Judd, who share vocal duties on Mental Notes and are credited with forming the band two years earlier. The line-up waxed and waned over the lifetime of the band with only two members who played on Mental Notes being present for the final iteration of the band in 1985.

Firmly founded in a progressive art rock/pop base Mental Notes cuts itself a niche that could only have existed outside Europe or America. This album is the pinnacle of Split Enz early period. The style, complexity, musicality, and grace that earmark Mental Notes would underpin the music of Split Enz (and all the braches of the Enz family tree) for decades to come.

There are so many elements present in the tracks of Mental Notes that only exceptional musicianship and hours upon hours of rehearsal could make this album sound as tight and bright as it is. Mental Notes nods its head to the music of the time but only as a sort of passing farewell, as the band heads off at full throttle into uncharted territory.

Crafted into sonically complex layers, patterns and textures, the sound nonetheless rides on a melodic base that makes it music that your Grandmother could tap her foot to, but lurking just under the surface is an aural landscape akin to an underwater dream. Mandolin picks a melody underscored by synthesized strings, vocals glide by on wings while drums punctuate a pattern that turns left and right and leaves you in a head space totally new but uncannily familiar. Musical Déjà vu.

Beautiful, captivating, dynamic, challenging, invigorating, rich and fulfilling. Mental Notes deserves headphones or at least a decent level of volume. As one famous Australian music critic said, “Do yourself a favor…”

mp3: Walking Down A Road
mp3: Stranger Than Fiction

CD Reissue | 2006 | Digipak | Mushroom Records | Buy @ Amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1975 | Search @ eBay ]

In 1980, Bobb Trimble lived in Northborough, Massachusetts, where he constructed a brilliant record full of slow-phased guitar, synth and audio sound effects, upper-register double-tracked vocals, and gorgeous, absolutely stunning melodies.

The songcraft may take a few spins to rest comfortably in your head (and this is where this music belongs, deep in your psyche!), but when they take hold Bobby’s genius becomes transparent. The sound of Iron Curtain Innocence is straight up timeless and it defies much of the genre categorization I have often thought to be quite simple.

Before this record finally saw release on Secretly Canadian, it had been bootlegged by Radioactive Records, also known today as Fallout Records. Don’t buy their stuff, please. But thanks to the work of good people like Kris Thompson and Douglas McGowan both of Bobb’s albums are now legitimately available in CD and vinyl reissues!

Bobb knows how to craft an album around a song, in this case it’s One Mile From Heaven, whose context within the album amplifies its power wonderfully. One Mile From Heaven recently touched me in a way I have found only elsewhere in my favorite track of all time, the masterpiece, God Only Knows. It’s not the spiritual references, I don’t think, though both tracks indeed have ethereal qualities. It’s just one of those records that makes you want to cry for no reason at all, when it hits you in the right spot, at the right time.

On Bobb’s 1982 Harvest of Dreams (previously reviewed by Jason in our New Psych Synopsis) it’s Premonitions. Both songs appear twice at the beginning and end of a record side, with separate, though very similar versions. Don’t believe for a second that these are the only tunes worth hearing. However, the effect of this technique is quite grabbing, and it gets you diving back into Bobb’s world whenever you get the chance.

mp3: Your Little Pawn
mp3: One Mile From Heaven (Short Version)

Aside: Is it just me, or are there Wizard of Oz references sprinkled throughout this record?

Today’s post is dedicated to my good friend Ben, who I am sure will enjoy this album.

CD Reissue: 2007 Secretly Canadian | Buy From SC | Buy From Amazon ]
Vinyl Reissue (w/ free digital download) | Buy From SC | Search eBay ]

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The beginning of the record brings a good wide smile. Either because of that brilliant sound or because you know what album is about to unfurl, remains yet undecided. Any of the early Os Mutantes records are consistent mind-blowers and this one makes an unforgettable introduction.

I feel that the music and voices of Os Mutantes transcends any language barrier such that even the most literary of music fans can still fall deep in love with these dazzling sounds. David Byrne, who incidentally reissued an anthology of the Mutants on his Luaka Bop label, seems to justify this sentiment on the liner notes to Stop Making Sense: “Singing is a trick to get people to listen to music for longer than they would ordinarily.” Delving deeper while trying to avoid comparisons, I falter and one phrase echoes in my head when I listen. Better than the Beatles.

Hugely inspired by their work, Os Mutantes managed to expand the music further than The Beatles were capable, and still maintained the disparate elements of pop song and art form. Laced with the sexiest assortment of fuzz tones and unheard-of electronic sounds, the production is startling and the compositions are eclectic, addictive, and lovely.

Os Mutantes’ have an interesting history; they are one of the best known bands of the Tropicalia movement and dealt directly with the frightening political climate of Brazil 1968. Through Byrne’s efforts, serious interest in their music led the band to reform and they are performing and releasing new records today.

No serious rock collection overlooks the Mutants. At the same time, the joy in their music should appeal universally and to all tastes.

“Nao Va Se Perder Por Ai”

“Rita Lee”

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Aorta was a highly talented rock band from Rockford, IL that released two albums throughout 1969 and 1970. The band was originally known as the Exceptions, a popular soul rock group that played around the Chicago area and released a handful of singles. It’s interesting to note that the Exceptions had at one time included future members of H.P. Lovecraft (another great Chicago psych band), the New Colony Six, Chicago, The Buckinghams, and Illinois Speed Press. The Exceptions eventually morphed into Aorta when band members felt a more progressive direction was needed.

In 1969 Columbia released this startling record which was a mix of psychedelia, soul, jazz, folk, and rock. The album was housed in a beautiful, graphic sleeve that has always overshadowed the great music from within. Musically speaking, Aorta’s sound comes close to Boston band Listening or even the more psychedelic aspects of early Blood, Sweat and Tears during its Al Kooper phase. There seems to be some kind of concept that reoccurs under the Mein Vein theme. Aorta is solid throughout though, featuring strong musicianship, inventive studio wizardry, superb songs with a healthy dose of fuzz guitar and wonderful string and horn arrangements.

Some songs like Heart Attack and Ode To Missy Mxyzosptlk have lots of organ and are very early stabs at what would later be coined progressive rock. Ode to Missy has some intense guitar solos and a great studio psych out ending that will put your stereo speakers on overdrive. A personal favorite is the more restrained Sprinkle Road to Cork Street, which is a dramatic folk-rock track with horns and a beautiful medieval-like intro. Trippier tracks like the spooky Catalyptic with its ethereal, acid church organ work extremely well too and make it clear that these guys could play any style of music well. What’s In My Mind’s Eye is a great lost piece of psychedelic pop that has really cool disembodied vocals and a prominent horn arrangement.

Aorta may seem grandiose and even downright indulgent at times but make no mistake this really is a great lost record. Vinyl originals are easy to come by and sell relatively cheap on Ebay as Aorta was a very popular local band. Both albums have even been reissued on CD a few years back and more recently as a digital download. Conclusion: definitely pick this great album up if you’re looking for some far out, wild psychedelia with a hint of early progressive rock.

“Sprinkle Road To Cork Street”

“What’s In My Minds Eye”

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Roy Wood is one of the architects of ELO and The Move, and had some of the most eclectic tastes and interesting ideas of any pop artist in his time. Boulders, his self-produced 1969 (though released 1973) solo-outing combines the hard rock of The Move with Roy Wood’s classical tastes, satisfying pop composition skills, and studio wizzardry.

A fantastic listen from start to finish. Songs of Praise might throw off casual ears with Roy’s layers of harmonized vocals, reminding one of Zappa’s For The Money (maybe Chipmunks too), but throughout the record the one man vox technique is played almost as masterfully, though more humorously to be sure, as our friend Nilsson. There’s the brilliantly produced Wake Up, with double-tracked acoustic guitars in stereo, flutes, cello, best of all: percussion from a puddle of water! Elsewhere we hear sped up and slowed down vocals, plentiful horns and woodwinds.

Delicate percussions of sleigh bells and shakers, tiny mistakes, xylophone highlights; there are a million precious details. It sounds as if Wood had picked out toys and instruments from the studio like it were a candy store. Additionally, it gives the feel of a fellow finally getting the control over the studio he’s always needed, and just having a blast with it. It is comforting in a strange way to know the record was designed entirely by Roy, making each ornament of sound stand out a bit more. I wonder if Roy Wood and Todd Rundgren were budds.

Despite Roy’s legacy of music in other projects The Move, ELO and Wizzard, I consider Boulders to be his finest work. It has been recently reissued, available at a nice price for purchase and/or digital download. Roy writes to us on the sleeve of the CD and asks that we not distribute this album illegally online. I hope this preview track won’t be minded. Boulders is a brilliant listen and is truly worth your money.

“Wake Up”

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