31 July 2009

Bill Plummer - 1967 - Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood

Quality: 4.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

You might not be aware of it yet, but you've come to the Psychedelic Garage today to become a fan of Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood. I'm willing to say this obscure sitar-infused psychedelic jazz album is one of the absolute best I've heard from the legendary Impulse! jazz imprint. Why they haven't reissued it yet is beyond me. Bill Plummer's primary trade is in the string bass, which does provide the awesome backbone for all of these songs. But someone must have tossed Mr. Plummer in a vat of acid (almost like Jack Nicholson in the 1989 "Batman") before the making of this album. With it's layers of Eastern gauze, occasional blasts of spoken word and free jazz, and oddball covers, this is the most ear pleasingly far-out legitimate jazz album I've come across (the wild fury of John Coltrane's Om, also on Impuse!, is probably the most far out, but it's not easy to listen to).

The first track, "Journey to the East," is far beyond awesome and deserves a place on every psych compilation. It's got a rock-solid groove, crazy chanting, a wall of sitar, and a totally entertaining spoken word rambling. Practically every 60's cliche is packed into the spoken word, but it's all convincingly sold by the dispassionate reading and the phenomenal music backing it up. I think I've listened to it about 600 times in the past week; I can't think of a better complement than that. For your own mind journey to the East, you need go no farther than "Arc 294," which plays as Indo-psychedelic free jazz for about ten minutes. The covers here are of note as well. Seeing "The Look of Love" on a track listing typically makes me groan, but with sitar drones and a groovy beat accompanying the tune, it works out just fine. Even better is the similar treatment to the Byrds great, yet-neglected "Lady Friend." I didn't know that that song required a transcendental Indo-jazz reading, but apparently it did. To hear Mr. Plummer score at making more conventional jazz, head for "Pars Fortuna" and "Song Plum"

This album manages to fuse jazz, Indian music, and wacky psychedelia, while still ending up as more than the sum of its parts. You need to become part of the Cosmic Brotherhood as soon as possible. In fact, I've renamed the 'followers' tab on the side of this page as such so you can (kind of).

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://rapidshare.com/files/261611819/Bill_Plummer_-_1967_-_Cosmic_Brotherhood.rar

Herbal T said...

Yes - I am now a new fan.

Thanks again.

Herbal T

Anonymous said...

live and learn, looking forward to listening to this, thanks - steve.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much this blog.........
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The Northern Miles said...

Looks very cool! Thanks - Joe

R3000 said...

Thanks a bunch for all the freat stuff. Many greetings,
R3000

bRainbow said...

This is just incredible, i knew a lot but this thing just flew out of nowhere right into my third eye full of delightment; full of inspiration for my musicians needs and especially my sitar ;-)
Thank you very much! Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Sweet, sweet music. I had the pleasure of drinking with Mr Bill Plummer in my kitchen about two years ago. Interesting cat.

Wilthomer said...

Sounds wiggy! A nice bookend for my semi hazy Gabor szabo Lps! Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Never heard of this geezer but the way you describe it I'd be stupid not to check it.

Thanks :)

Govindas Dream said...

wow, fantastic! the cover doesn't really look like, but the music is the one finest cosmic psych I ever heared!

I will post the first song "Journey to the East" on my psychedelic jukebox with a link to your blog entry ;)!

http://psychedelic-jukebox.blogspot.com/

greetings,
amadeus :)!

Anonymous said...

I can't stop hearing the first track. Thank you for this great album :)

John W. Hubbard said...

I love this album! Thank you for posting it here alongside your vast selection of other obscure gems!

Anonymous said...

Fucking cool! Thanx for all the work you did, even if you're tapering off now. Found many late 60's gems here I'd never have found otherwise. THIS is why I invented the internet.