God's Weird/Obscure Music Reviews

[Noble Savage]

It's not even on youtube, it'd be in that spoilers link if it was, definitely

And check out the Marillion review above

Will sort out both points on the morrow



As promised

Stunning

[God]

Yay, thanks!

*puts into spoiler of review*

Next review will probably be of The United States of America (1968)

[Noble Savage]

Another great album

Mention "Hard Talking Love"

[God]

The United States of America ~ The United States of America (1968)
Psychedelic/Electronic

The United States of America’s 1968 self-titled album was one of the first bands to mix electronic music with psychedelic pop. Released around the same time as Silver Apples’ more electronic orientated self-titled debut which created a sound similar to 70’s krautrock and even 90’s dance music, and a year before White Noise’s An Electric Storm which is arguably even more extreme and ahead-of-it‘s-time, The United States of America stands as one of the most influential and experimental albums of the 1960’s.

Created by John Cage and World music inspired avant-garde musicians, including an African drum specialist and a classical bassist, The USA was created with very little knowledge of rock music, but instead of hindering them this adds to the experimental nature of the music that has made it age so well over the years. While Silver Apples created a tense robotic sound, The USA used their early electronic influences to create much smoother and natural sounding melodies, mixing this unique style with influences like Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane and proto-metal band Blue Cheer, this especially giving many of the songs a harder rock sound.

Instead of having a guitar, The United States of America used an electric violin plugged into a ring modulator to give it a Hendrix-style fuzz. The drums and vocals too were distorted and electrified, with electronic sounds were created using three variable wave shape generators as early Moog synthesisers cost over $20,000 at the time. Musically, at first the band may sound little different from other quirky psychedelic groups of the time like early Pink Floyd, but there is a lot more going on that soon becomes apparent. The psychedelic melodies are usually densely layered and seem to spin off in different directions, with electronic sounds flowing through the album, seemingly appearing at random points. While some of these effects can sound cheesy and dated now, it dies not really harm the music that much and is easily ignorable, in fact adding somewhat to the album’s trippy feel and weirdness that makes it so enjoyable to listen to.

All of this chaos is grounded by Dorothy Moskowitz’s beautiful vocals. While she denies that she was influenced by Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, there is definitely a noticeable resemblance, though Moskowitz sings in a clear tone without as much vibrato. The singing is almost always melodic, following catchy vocal lines, but at certain points such as the end of ‘The American Metaphysical Circus’ it becomes so distorted it becomes almost impossible to understand what she is singing.

As well as the harder rock songs like ‘Hard Coming Love’ and ‘Coming Down’, which feature energetic bouncy bass-lines, heavy drumming and frantic violin playing, there are mellower calm songs, ‘Cloud Song’ and ‘Love Song for the Dead Ché’. While these songs really highlight Moskowitz’s amazing vocals, they sound slightly more dated than the others, lacking the incredible energy and focusing more on sparser melodies. They still work quite well though, creating a relaxing mood and adding another dimension to the band’s music. The best moments on the album are usually the more energetic songs though, which often manage to be just as haunting, such as in ‘The American Metaphysical Circus’ where eerie electronic effects swirl around Moskowitz’s distorted vocals.

The lyrics, written mainly by band leader Joe Byrd are another strong point. A Communist at the time, his lyrics are poetic but also very critical of the US government. Usually these criticisms are subtle, with the only real weakness being the Frank Zappa-esque (though he claims he hated Zappa, and Zappa hated him) track ‘I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar’, sung by Boyd, which is far more obvious in it‘s satire. The lyrics on the whole are very negative though. Byrd claimed that they were ‘puncturing the balloons of the Summer of Love’. Despite this anti-hippie sentiment though, there are some very psychedelic lyrics here.

Unfortunately, like many experimental psychedelic albums, The United States of America was unfairly ignored on release, getting very little promotion from executives who hated the band name, didn’t understand the music and considered the band’s politics to be treasonous. However, due to the quality of the music, it has since gone on to become a cult classic and a very influential album.

/5

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The American Metaphysical Circus


Hard Coming Love

[therussian]

I'm surprised that you didn't do this album earlier

[Enemy of the State]

Great review, great album.

[Siblesz]

Ouch! The music is burning me with spirit! Feel good.

Good stuff. +rep

[God]

Danke


Anyway, no idea what I'll review next or when. Might do Cathedral's The Ethereal Mirror

[God]

Sir Lord Baltimore ~ Kingdom Come (1970)
Hard Rock/Blues-Rock/Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is commonly thought to have been pioneered by bands such as Blue Cheer and, of course, Black Sabbath. The very first album to be described in print as ‘heavy metal’ though was Sir Lord Baltimore’s 1970 album Kingdom Come, in a review for the magazine Creem. Like the aforementioned bands Sir Lord Baltimore was unpopular with the critics of the time but unfortunately didn’t have the same underground fanbase, causing them to remain obscure despite the quality of the music.

Taking influence from blues-rock and psychedelia, and performing in a power trio format, Sir Lord Baltimore sound quite a lot like a heavier Cream and Blue Cheer. Unlike Black Sabbath though, who created their gloomy heavy sound by slowing the music down, Sir Lord Baltimore’s music is usually very fast-paced and energetic, with the heaviness created by a high amount of distortion in the guitar and sometimes also the bass. As well as this, a huge amount of multi-tracking was used over the guitar to give it extra strength and power, and creating an effect that makes it seem as if more than one guitar is playing. This multi-tracking is what gives the music most of it’s own unique sound.

The album is filled with powerful and catchy Deep Purple-esque riffs, as well as some fantastic Hendrix inspired solos and licks. None of the music is particularly original, save for the obviously heavier sound, but the band manage to create their own sound well with their obvious influences. As well as the guitar, the bass is very prominent. While it usually simply follows the guitar, there are some very impressive bass parts, such as the bass-led introduction to ‘Hard Rain Fallin’’.

The drumming is usually quite simple but is fast paced and creates the energy that the music needs. The drummer, John Garner, also does the vocals, which apparently didn’t work too well when they played live, but the vocals are consistently good on the album.

While Garner doesn’t have a huge range or a particularly unique voice his rough singing is always totally powerful, fitting in perfectly with the heavy music, with him almost shouting the lyrics at times. He also manages to sing well in a mellow tone in the only calm song of the album, the harpsichord and 12-string guitar-led ‘Lake Isle of Innersfree’. At times though, the vocals get so manic they can sound a little silly, but it's easy to ignore. Lyrically, Sir Lord Baltimore are much the same as their peers with songs about love and psychedelic themes, completely different to the Christian themes they‘ve adopted after reforming (without the bassist) in 2006. None of the lyrics are particularly impressive, but they aren’t really the focus here.

While ’Lake Isle of Innersfree’ is a nice calming interlude, it does highlight one problem with the album: despite being quite short at under 40 minutes, there isn’t really much variety in the music. This isn’t a huge problem as all of the songs have fantastic riffs and little filler and the album doesn’t really have time to get boring, but it would have been better to have more songs like ‘Lake Isle of Innersfree’ to break it up a bit more.

While at the time of release this would have sounded much heavier than nearly anything else, nowadays there isn’t a lot that really separates it from other hard rock bands of the same time. Because of this, Kingdom Come does sound very much of its time, now fitting in completely with bands such as Deep Purple. If you like 70’s hard rock already there isn’t really any reason not to like this, but it probably won’t appeal to those who wouldn’t normally listen to the genre.

1/2 /5

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kingdom Come


Lady of Fire


Master Heartache

[Arto]

Good as always. I need to thank you for introducing me new bands I've never even heard of.

[God]

No problem. If you like that you should really check out Blue Cheer, they're similar but a bit better I think.

[bomberboy]

Nice review God.

[vizi]

I haven't listened to this album in awhile. It was a decent album. Review is very accurate. Good job sah!

[therussian]

I have yet to listen to Lord Baltimore, but I have to tell you Eddie, Blue Cheer rock. They don't have much technical skill like Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin, but what they lack in that department, they make up in energy and kicking ass.

[chamaeleo]

Thanks, God, for linking this thread in your sig...some great suggestions, plenty of exciting new avenues to explore! Keep up the great reviews.

Based on your eclectic and interesting tastes, I've got a few for you...have you checked out:

Os Mutantes? Brazilian psychedelia. Very creative stuff, I think Beatles ripped em off when producing Sergeant Pepper.

Fela Kuti? The Nigerian James Brown. "Shakara" is a good starting album.

the Flock? Throw Mahavishnu Orchestra (same electric violinist) into a blender w Blood Sweat & Tears, you'd get something like this.

Electric Flag? Remove the Flock from a blender, and throw it into a mixer with Butterfield Blues Band. Gotta love Mike Bloomfield, whatever band he's in at the time...

Harry Partch? Inventor of his own musical scales and instruments, some very cool stuff.

Larry Coryell & the Eleventh House? Amazing guitar, groovin psychedelic jazz.

McDonald & Giles? King Crimson offshoot band, only one album but it's a gem.

Giles Giles & Fripp? King Crimson precursor. Def worth listening to for KC fans.

Gong? A more humorous take on early Pink Floyd style psychedelia, very creative rhythms and outstanding solos. If you like, check out Steve Hillage solo stuff as well.

Tin Hat Trio? Creepy and agile violin/accordion/guitar & banjo unit (mostly instrumental)..."the soundtrack to a dream from which you wake up confused" as one person summarized. Tom Waits, Mike Patton, Willy Nelson and other guests.

Frank Zappa. Don't get me started.

[vizi]

Thunka-thunka, thunka-thunka

*bloodcurdling scream*

da-nawr, da-nawr, da-na-da-na-da-na-da-na-da-na

YOU WAN TOASTER OVEN LAN DUK GOIN!

da-nawr, da-nawr, da-na-da-na-da-na-da-na-da-na

*bloodcurdling scream*

[God]

Great post, thanks!

Os Mutantes? Brazilian psychedelia. Very creative stuff, I think Beatles ripped em off when producing Sergeant Pepper.

I have to thanks therussian for getting me into these, great great band. I need to listen to them more really...

Fela Kuti? The Nigerian James Brown. "Shakara" is a good starting album.

Zombie is great... unfortunately the only album I have, I should get more

the Flock? Throw Mahavishnu Orchestra (same electric violinist) into a blender w Blood Sweat & Tears, you'd get something like this.

Never heard of them. Anything to do with MO has to be good though *adds to 'to listen to' list*

Electric Flag? Remove the Flock from a blender, and throw it into a mixer with Butterfield Blues Band. Gotta love Mike Bloomfield, whatever band he's in at the time...

I heard about these ages ago but never got round to checking them out. *adds to list*

Harry Partch? Inventor of his own musical scales and instruments, some very cool stuff.

Never heard of this guy either. Looks very interesting though, I've been meaning to get into modern classical...

Larry Coryell & the Eleventh House? Amazing guitar, groovin psychedelic jazz.

Psychedelic jazz just sounds awesome. The sort of thing I would do if I had any musical talent I'll look for this too, but his stuff with The Eleventh House looks pretty obscure.

McDonald & Giles? King Crimson offshoot band, only one album but it's a gem.

Giles Giles & Fripp? King Crimson precursor. Def worth listening to for KC fans.

It's appalling I don't have these already I know.

Gong? A more humorous take on early Pink Floyd style psychedelia, very creative rhythms and outstanding solos. If you like, check out Steve Hillage solo stuff as well.

I have Camembert Electrique, it's OK but I never really listen to it.

Tin Hat Trio? Creepy and agile violin/accordion/guitar & banjo unit (mostly instrumental)..."the soundtrack to a dream from which you wake up confused" as one person summarized. Tom Waits, Mike Patton, Willy Nelson and other guests.

Never heard of this, looks interesting... though I hate banjos with just a few exceptions...

Frank Zappa. Don't get me started.

Well then Fido got up off the floor, and he rolled over
and he looked me straight in the eye
And you know what he said?
Once upon a time, somebody say to me
This is the dog talkin' now
What is your, conceptual, continuity?
Well I told 'em right then, Fido said
It should be easy to see
The crux of the biscuit
is the apostrophe
Well you know, the man that was talking to the dog
looked at the dog, and he said
Sort of staring in disbelief
You can't say that
he said
It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't
it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't
it couldn't
He told him, No, no, no
I told him, Yes, yes, yes
I said, I do it all the time
Ain't this boogie a mess?

I have about 26 albums

----

Anyway, next review will be of Bohren & der Club of Gore's Sunset Mission or Black Earth. Think haunting and atmospheric slowed-down noir jazz.

[God]

Bohren & der Club of Gore ~ Sunset Mission (2003)
Jazz/Ambient

The grimly titled ‘Bohren & der Club of Gore’ was formed in 1992 by members of hardcore bands with names like ‘Chronical Diarrhoea’ and ‘Macabre Farmhouse’. With this background, you may expect Bohren to follow in a similar pattern of playing incredibly fast and vicious punk or metal.

What the band actually do though is move all the way to the other extreme in the complete opposite direction, playing a slowed down and incredibly sparse mixture of jazz and ambient. There is still a metal influence, but it’s the dark, gloomy and ponderous sound of doom metal, especially Black Sabbath, that Bohren draw from. With their third album, 2000’s Sunset Mission, Bohren move toward perfecting their noir jazz soundscapes, replacing the guitar of the first two albums with a tenor saxophone.

This fusion of jazz and ambient played at a snail-pace works incredibly well, perfectly creating an impressively dark and haunting mood. The music is always tense and edgy despite being so mellow because of it‘s unpredictable melodies, which is what makes it so enjoyable to listen to. Sunset Mission is the perfect album to play in solitude while walking through a city late at night because of the perfect noir atmosphere. It is not music you can listen to at any time, but when in the right mood it works perfectly. The songs, all instrumental, flow into each other perfectly so it is easy to get drawn in to the atmosphere.

The songs, ranging from 5 to nearly 17 minutes in length are centred on seemingly never ending double-bass lines. While this may sound dull, it is actually one of the reason’s the music works so well. The bass-lines are all gripping and totally hypnotic with just enough subtle changes to stop them from becoming stale but not quite enough to break the trance-like feel that is so easy to get totally lost in. The slow pace puts emphasis on every single bass note, making each one sound just as powerful as the last. The drumming is equally as restrained, though while the often simple and sparse drumming is usually played very gently with brushes it is equally as gripping as the bass, creating much of the music’s tension. With the exception of some rising cymbals that add even more to this tension, the drumming is never that loud, staying in the background for most of the music.

The real highlight of Sunset Mission though, is Christoph Clöser’s fantastic saxophone playing, which sadly loses some of it’s importance in Bohren’s later albums. The rich emotional sax fades in at just the right moments before the music starts getting at all boring, playing unpredictable slow-motion melodies that sound totally improvised and always interesting. The piano plays equally unpredictably throughout, sometimes weaving between the slow saxophone at a much faster pace than everything else to add some excitement to the music and sometimes remaining as laid-back as the rest of the music, with each note left echoing for what seems like an eternity before the next.

The problem with Sunset Mission is that it only works if you’re in the right mood to listen to it. The extended song lengths and long running time of 1 hour 13 minutes can quickly get boring if you don’t get drawn in, and while the album flows with barely noticeable gaps between songs this can make the album sound samey as there isn’t a huge variety between each song. However, while it can definitely be a grower, taking several listens to fully appreciate, Sunset Mission is an excellent album that should appeal to any fan of jazz or ambient music and also even doom metal fans due to the uneasy gloomy doom-inspired atmosphere throughout.

1/2 /5

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Prowler


On Demon Wings

[Arto]

Not a listener/fan of Jazz. Sounds interesting but I won't check.

[vizi]

I got my friend, who is almost only into metal (black metal is his favorite,) into these guys. He loves Black Earth.

Great stuff man. Excellent review. Pretty much spot on as usual.