Outer Music Diary

Genesis – Wind and Wuthering. 11=11. Paraphrasing what I wrote in response to a query on PE a few weeks back: Recently I embarked on a business trip which required a lot of driving between cities. So I took this one along for a detailed listen. Even though I’ve owned the album for well over 25 years, it’s not one I was deeply knowledgeable about. So I played it through about 7 or 8 times, the type of listening I did more as an early teen, when the record collection had less than 50 albums.  Pretty much the end of the line for the “progressive” Genesis. The track ‘Your Own Special Way’ points to the new commercial direction the band was heading. A cloying piece of nausea. Also, ‘One For the Vine’ isn’t really that much better, except the length allows for some progressive interludes. All is forgiven, however, as “Unquiet Slumbers…” is near the very top of anything that Genesis ever did (and that’s a very high bar). What a powerful piece of music. They drove off the cliff after this. Too bad they didn’t at least have a Gnosis 9 or 10 level album to soften the blow.

Jimmy Read Smith – Heartdance. No grade. A real oddity in my collection. Found this in a Durham, North Carolina record store back in 1992. On the Song of the Wood label, and features a stunning fantasy gatefold cover. I figured it might be an obscure symphonic rock album or something. It was only a couple of bucks. Up until today, I just presumed the group was Heartdance. I hadn’t even thought about this record for 10 years when it turned up for a random listen by the computer. Turns out Jimmy Read Smith is a legend in the hammered dulcimer field and he makes them by hand for sale. Oh, and the music is instrumental Celtic jig music. Not bad – my Dad had a full collection of this kind of stuff. I’ll keep for the cover and because who’ll buy it anyway? If curious – you can easily get the CD (slightly different cover BTW, and inferior) – and here’s more info: http://www.songofthewood.com/Jerry’s%20Recordings.htm
The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East. 12-11. The tendency, I think, is to rate this one a bit higher than normal – at least from a progressive rock perspective. It’s a novelty to find a Southern fried blooz band put out lengthy European jazz influenced rock numbers like “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and the instrumental sections of “Whipping Post”. The rest is good, but not really my strike zone. Still, the aforementioned 2 tracks are amazing and they make up over 30 minutes of the original 2 LP set.
Acid Mothers Temple – Univers Zen ou de Zero a Zero. 7=7. Another try at this and another miss. I need to sit with someone who actually likes the first song, and I want to see them pay attention all along. Not run their gums, or the vacuum cleaner, or with a massive doobie in their hands – but actually SIT THERE and listen to it sober as a lawn chair. And then tell me, with a straight face, that it’s great. Then maybe I can get some insight into what’s good about AMT. After the original torture, the music lightens up, and takes an acoustic flair, not that far from what Ghost might do – though the band is so desperate for an editor, it’s not funny. Guess when you put an album out every month, what can you expect?
Beast – Higher and Higher. 9=9. 1970 Faceless psych from Denver, who recorded in Clovis, New Mexico. First half of the disc is on track as they primarily address their jazz school background. But, like many bands of the era, they put in all sorts of other styles to see if something would stick. You get Dixieland, ragtime, hard rock and, the worst, country AND western music – which I suspect is what the bar patrons wanted to hear.