Outer Music Diary

Pentwater – s/t. 1978. I first came across Pentwater through their archival release on Syn-Phonic called “Out of the Abyss”, an amazing set of hyper progressive tunes that has as much in common with fellow Chicago area peers Yezda Urfa, than the relatively more mainstream-ish Starcastle from nearby Champaign. Not long after this discovery, a local friend found their rare sole private LP, which was released a bit past their progressive heyday in 1978. At the time I was extremely disappointed, quickly dismissing it as a typical radio friendly FM album. However since it’s been so many years since I heard it, I decided to pick up the reissue of the album, recently produced and released by the band themselves. One of the reasons for taking a chance here is my renewed interest in all things Midwest progressive - which is a style best characterized as a deft combination of AOR friendly melodies with tight, thoughtful progressive textures and meters. Now that I’m listening to it, this is far more progressive than I remembered, though it does certainly have some commercial moments. But whereas I was expecting something along the lines of a more complex Styx, I was struck by the strong tight counterpoint influence of post “Power and the Glory” Gentle Giant. And one instrumental suite is right out of ELP’s “Tarkus” playbook, which recalls “Out of the Abyss”. A definite winner for those who wanted more out of bands like Ethos and Albatross.

Pentwater – Ab-Dul. 2007. Already a charter member of the biased Pentwater fanboy club, I just had to get the new album, even though these guys haven’t released anything in 30 years. With most reunions, I duck for cover, figuring the band had long forgotten why anyone wanted to hear them in the first place, ergo the irrational desire for a quick FM hit. As if all the 14 year old girls will start swooning for 55 year old geezers singing about lost loves, or worse, some sort of fairy queen eaten by a jester elf… But this is Pentwater, and these guys were an intellectual bunch even amongst the intellectual, so it’s no surprise they came up with another winner. It’s not perfect, and there were a couple of tracks that seemed to imply that maybe Neil Diamond had it right all along. But they catch themselves, and throw something in 13/8 with a mellotron on top and the world is alright again. I seem to be Pentwater’s biggest fan within our Gnosis ranks, and I’m not sure why. Very few groups can pull off melody and complexity like Pentwater. The Flower Kings could learn a trick or two here (maybe the best trick FK could learn from Pentwater is to not release two hours of music every 6 months…). Recommended.

Synopsis - Minuit Ville

An album like this takes me back to the early 90s and the original slew of Musea reissues, most of which were highly anticipated by symphonic rock fans. There’s something distinctively European about this take on progressive rock, even if the closest analogs to Synopsis might be Yes or Genesis (or even Ange or Atoll). Synopsis have to be credited with creating a rather amazing atmosphere with very little. Production elements are poor on all accounts, I don’t usually even notice this but the crash cymbal was starting to irritate by the end of it, closer to banging sheet metal than a Zildjian. But overall there’s something about an album like this that captures an essence of the Euro-symph scene that I often forget about. Something archaic and spacey, even nostalgic in a certain way. Add a rather delicate feel, almost like if you were to disturb it it would blow away like dust, with the warbling (and occasionally Tiny Tim-like) vocalist and the omnipresent string synth and you have something almost approaching definitive French prog rock. Overall the draw to this record seems to be the ambition at play, a desire to play this style of music at just about the wrong time financially. It’s funny, but despite having mentally left the progressive rock scene behind in the 90s I’m finding I enjoy this record now more than I ever had and had to move it up to a 9. It might be better than that, but for now I still give the nod to their second, Gamme, which is more of the same, just improved.

Tom’s also got a take on this album here.

Fast ‘n Bulbous - Saufelden 8/25/03 (aired 9/6/04)

Great sounding and almost note for note performance of the ex Beefheart musicians’ Cuneiform album from 4FM in the Netherlands, and I mean note for note not literally as much as even the free bits reminded me exactly of what they did on the album. Fast n Bulbous do the Beefheart catalog instrumentally and add a rather New York style horn section to the mix and it all works very well, those elastic avant-blues sounds holding up extremely well even without the amazing idiosyncratic poetry of the good Captain. Beefheart pays back pretty well in my book, each listen improving one’s understanding of some of the most complicated and unique music on the planet.

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - A&R Recording Studios, New York City 7/22/71

I don’t really know the story behind this band and why they managed to attract a lot of the great talent of the day (Clapton, both Allman brothers, etc.) but this set of studio sessions ends up somewhere between a solo Clapton concert, a gospelized Dead show and some cheesy variety act. “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad” makes me yearn for the Donna Godchaux version (which if you know the reference oughta say something). The rest seem like rather staid jams as if there was too little preparation and too many hands to feed.

John McLaughlin/Paco de Lucia - The Montreux Concerts discs 10-11 (July 15, 1987)
John McLaughlin/The Free Spirits - The Montreux Concerts disc 12 (July 4, 1993); discs 13-14 (July 18, 1995)
John McLaughlin/The Heart of Things - The Montreux Concerts disc 15 (July 11, 1998)
Remember Shakti - The Montreux Concerts disc 16 (July 8, 1999)
John McLaughlin with Santana/Paco De Lucia - The Montreux Concerts (bonus) disc 17

Whew. If anything ought to talk me out of discussing these recordings, it’s typing out those headers, especially for what I’d consider the lesser half of the entire box set. Most of these sets don’t particularly interest me, although there is an exception or two. For starters, his collaborations with Paco de Lucia do very little for me, whether it’s the full set or the “bonus track” on disc 17. De Lucia’s terribly talented, but the pairing of a flamenco stylist with McLaughlin’s jazziness never really worked for me and despite the great sound and the intense playing, after ten minutes I grow numb, especially with all the fast picking.

I saw the Free Spirits in the mid 90s, probably closer to the second date rather than the first and really dug the set, way more than I did any of the band’s albums. There’s obviously something immediate about the live environment, but McLaughlin’s choice of clean tones during this period gives his axe very little to cut through with and combined with DeFrancesco’s very choppy style, there’s just an awful lot of playing going on, in fact this is amazingly busy for a trio. Chambers is often the highlight, so it’s no surprise he was held over for the Heart of Things stint. Despite the larger band and the different instrumental line up, I felt like the band wasn’t doing music all that far from the Free Spirits, organ or not and like the album of the time, I felt fairly numb. I suppose it’s possible playing most of these in a row, something I haven’t done yet after a few listsens, would add to this feeling, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic about music whose fire is so muted.

So in a way it was a relief to get Remember Shakti as a follow up, despite the fact that they’re a rather limp and unimpressive take off on the original band, often meandering for minutes when the original band nearly made a career of perfect dynamic control. Again, the flat McLaughlin tone just doesn’t help, often obscuring the music. It catches a little at the end, but overall this show sits comfortably with the rest of the RS ouevre.

The bonus disc’s Santana track makes one wish it was pulled from the artists’ 73 collaboration, but this point in the game Santana’s Ligertwood-headed group was coming up more misses than hits and unfortunately the collaboration with McLaughlin is more of a non event than something to be commented on.

The summary of the whole box is that I feel rather comfortable retiring discs 7 through 17 without much of a look back. Personally I could have lived with a 2 CD comp of the original Shakti shows, just like I could have lived with the 2 disc 73 show on the Miles Davis box set. It’s honestly hard to imagine someone truly enthusiastic for such a wide swathe of different styles at this price and despite holding out no hope for separate releases of choice shows, I’m feeling it would have been a better idea.

Grateful Dead - Sunshine Daydream: Old Renaissance Faire Grounds, Veneta, OR 8/27/72 (DVD)
Grateful Dead - Fillmore East, San Francisco 2/14/70 (DVD)

If the owners of the Veneta tapes were, to say, realize an entire frame of film was missing from the Sunshine Daydream video, you could almost expect an upgrade within days. I think this version, now a two-discer, might be my third or fourth version of this, and it is indeed one worthy enough to spend that type of care with, as I’m one of many who find this to be if not the best Grateful Dead show ever, at least on the top 10 list. And it’s a good example of the quirky nature of this band, as they were not only dealing with the heat and its effects on tuning, but were apparently on a trip at the same time. I suppose if it demonstrates anything it’s that the Dead didn’t need to be perfect or even close to be incredible. The Bird Song and Playin’ in the Band are possibly the best versions ever, although, of course, you don’t get all of both here. Instead, you get the Woodstock movie sort of viewpoint of the event with lots of crowd scenes and such, which I suppose might be more beneficial to the historian of the period. For my ears, I hold out hope that maybe the whole show exists on video and that we’ll eventually get to see it.

The DVD of the Fillmore tapes are even more of a mess, although it’s great to even see what’s there surface finally, even despite extremely poor quality. I forget how much is here, maybe 20 or 30 minutes of tape and most of them are in bits. In fact if I’m not mistake there’s even a bit of Love playing at the end. The audio version of this show or at least part of it is officially released now and rather legendary in its own right, so this isn’t really anywhere near that sonic level. But given that this show was one of my earliest purchases, it was good to get the reminder that I need to go and give it a listen as the clips captured here are quite brilliant.

Human Beast – Volume One. 1970. I just recently heard this British gem for the first time a couple of months ago. For years I was curious about it, as at least one well known Japanese collector used the album cover as his emblem. And, I figured, if the music is anything like the cover, it will have to be exciting. I was sidetracked somewhere along the way, as I’d heard it was a typical UK blues rock album. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s certainly not the case – and it is, in fact, more reflective of the cover in terms of creativity. On the surface, it would seem to be typical of the era, given the guitar bass drums trio format. But these guys aren’t Cream plagiarists, nor did they go the Led Zeppelin, Ashkan, Elias Hulk psychedelic power variation of the blues. No, we’re moving towards the freaky, to the astral zone of Clear Blue Sky, but even beyond. The lyrical concept and overall acid feel gives the feeling that Vangelis may have stumbled onto the album before launching into “666” for his Aphrodite’s Child group. And yes, I’m sure Human Beast digested plenty of “Saucerful of Secrets” and “Ummagumma” before heading into the studio. One of the most creative of the UK power trios, no doubt. And, since cover art plays a role here, you know I was very much pleased to find a Japanese mini-LP exists. This is the type of album those things were invented for. Pity it’s only a single sleeve – but, wow, center stage in the art case it goes.

Buffalo – Volcanic Rock. 1973. Buffalo’s second album takes out the boogie rock and blues of the first album “Dead Forever” (which I briefly spoke of recently) and leaves a pretty darned good straight ahead hard rock album. I’d say it’s one of the finest in the “slo burn” style. It just keeps cooking, ever so slowly. Pulverizing rhythms and omnipresent guitar solos. That is until part 2 of the last track, ‘Shylock’, which has one of the all time great riffs in rock history. I have to think Black Sabbath knew this record, as ‘Symptoms of the Universe’, which came 3 years later, is very similar. I still need to hear the follow-up “Only Want You For Your Body”, which is here somewhere.

Wicked Minds – Witchflower. 2006. Italy’s Wicked Minds are a guilty pleasure. They are unabashedly retro rock. Hammond, Moog, Mellotron, Rickenbacker, Gibson Les Paul, cowbells. You know – 1971-1973 Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and a host of obscure “hard rock progressive” bands from England, Germany and Scandinavia. And, to Wicked Minds credit, they actually put the “prog” in hard rock prog. It’s a sub-genre of a sub-genre. And there are a few players in it now, all worth checking out: fellow Black Widow recording artist Areknames, Sweden’s Black Bonzo, and Blood of the Sun from the US are a handful more that come to mind. In some ways, these bands are better than their 1970s ancestors. I believe it’s because they’re more focused on the sound they want to achieve. The original bands may have experimented with other ideas, or pursued more commercial avenues due to pressure from major label executives. Commercial success always (I can actually use that word) altered a band’s direction in those days. Today, success for a band like Wicked Minds would be to keep playing 1970’s retro progressive hard rock. Me like.

Los Jaivas - Obras de Violeta Parra

Chileans Los Jaivas have to be one of the longest running, ambitious rock groups on the planet, one of the few who never really succumbed to trends and phases along their career. In fact this double album from 1984 is probably as ambitious and unique as any of their albums, 15 years or more since their debut. The Jaivas motif tends to be a combination of indigenous and traditional ideas with rock and classical music and it gives their sound a very unique cast, one that’s likely to be exotic for the Northern ear. This album appears to be music created around the lyrics of Violeta Parra, although from a non-Spanish speaking perspective its not likely to make much difference from their other work. Musically it doesn’t work for me as well as many of their other titles as this is a rather ornate and classical influenced work with lots of various movements that start and stop quite frequently. Many if not most of these sequences are beautiful and brilliantly arranged, but the opening and closure of some of them, without a great deal of internal development, are suite-like, giving the album a feel of longer pieces, rather than the shorter songs they are.  This is likely to appeal more to the symphonic prog fan with a love for various time changes and such, but I find little of it particularly memorable and feel I’d have to put in a great deal of time to make it so. But I’ll always admire them for a strict artistic focus, one that turns up a gem like Cancion del Sur every so often.

Happy the Man - State University of New York 3/4/77

I have a tough time remembering Happy the Man tracks, particularly after they took a long piece called Death’s Crown and reduced it to smaller segments, some of which are among my favorites. In fact this show, or at least the tape, I suspect part of this is missing, opens with one of these moments, including one of my favorite mini-moog solos of all time. Obviously this is dominated by first album and earlier material, including the banal “Leave That Kitten Alone Armone,” which is maybe a hair before what I’d consider their peak period. But HTM were definitely one of the great live bands and elevated all their material outside the studio, which makes their shows terribly collectible to my ears.

John McLaughlin & The One Truth Band - The Montreux Concerts disc 6 (July 19, 1978)
Chick Corea & John McLaughlin - The Montreux Concerts disc 7 (July 15, 1981)
Mahvishnu - The Montreux Concerts discs 8-9 (July 18, 1984)

In discussing some South American jazz rock groups in one of Tom’s posts, we discussed the inevitable dive the genre took in the late 70s and early 80s, so it seems the perfect time to delve into this section of the Montreux box set, something I’ve been amiss at doing because most of these sets don’t really hit the dartboard let alone the bullseye when it comes to my tastes.

The One Truth Band is the exception as it’s McLaughlin returning to jazz rock very briefly after his years in Shakti, bringing L. Shankar along with him. In fact, they open with “Meeting of the Spirits,” one of those classics you can pick out in a few notes. It’s quite the set overall, but I always feel something missing in McLaughlin’s jazz rock, usually a sense of being grounded, so it doesn’t surprise me that his post fusion projects tend to be much earthier. Having L. Shankar along is a bonus as always, I can only imagine what Mahavishnu might have been like with he rather than Jerry Goodman on the instrument. This set is likely the closest one will ever get to the idea.

I’ve probably mentioned before, but I’m not a huge fan of solo, duo and trio spots, possibly because I find so much musical appreciation in the reactions in an ensemble setting and find harmonic development a lot rarer. So I’m not really the audience for the duo shows of Corea and McLaughlin despite the sheer talent at work. For one thing, the project seems to be more a Corea sort of thing, like the solo spots that Romantic Warrior-era Return to Forever were doing in spots. Beautiful and virtuoso this stuff may be, but it generally leaves me a bit chilly.

The set then returns to more electric jazz-rock, but by the Jonas Hellborg Mahavishnu period (the set has this as Mahavishnu Orchestra but the lack of the Orchestra on the albums might have been due to copyright issues), the style had grown pretty sterile and most of this sounds like scale exercises with stale and dated tones. While the Montreux show certainly has a lot more fire than the studio work from this band, I find myself as numbed with it after 20 minutes as I am with anything Hellborg tends to be involved with. On my other blog I talk about olfactory fatigue with burning too much incense, it’s the same sort of thing with music of this sort, after enough of this virtuosity it ceases to have much meaning.

Passport – Cross-Collateral. 1975.
Passport – Infinity Machine. 1976. Passport are one of the most known European fusion bands in the US, having obtained a steady stream of domestic releases through the Visa imprint. Their jazz background gives them a distinct sound and approach verse the many rock bands that attempted to incorporate the complexities of jazz into their music. “Cross-Collateral” catches Passport at their peak of fusing rock and jazz. Doldinger is a world-renowned sax player, so naturally he dominates the proceedings. “Infinity Machine” is a fascinating experiment, which allows the listener the opportunity to fantasize what it would’ve been like had Tangerine Dream released a jazz album. Why you may ask? Check out the sequencers that dominate one half of the album.

Ruphus – Let Your Light Shine. 1976. Norway’s Ruphus were one of the many bands to adopt the fusion genre, following the success of groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Passport, Weather Report and, maybe more to the point, fellow Scandinavians Secret Oyster. Ruphus started their career in the “UK heavy rock” bag, sometimes referred to as the Vertigo School of rock. Their second album “Ranshart” was an overt attempt at cashing in on the symphonic prog movement, especially the sounds of Yes. “Let Your Light Shine” is the beginning of their jazz rock stage, with some tight playing by all involved. The female non-lyrical vocals are a nice touch. Not too far from the “M” groups in Germany like Morpheus or Munju, though perhaps a bit more generic.