Steve Hillage - 1977 - Motivation Radio

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Now this is a horrific album cover. Apparently, the execs at Virgin Records decided that they wanted to market Hillage as some sort of new age Jesus figure, and I feel that this cover really reflects this. Fortunately, it does not effect the music inside, and if you get past the poor visual design, you'll find another solid Hillage album.

Once again, there are some changes here. Hillage had finally hooked up with a stable band (and still skilled) at this point, and Miquette Giraudy is now working her synth magic as a full member. To get an awesome dose of what she does, head straight for "Searching For The Spark." The songs here are also much more concise, giving Motivation Radio much more of a pop edge. It's a really happy, positive sounding album.

Hillage always came up with killer guitar riffs, and they work quite well in a more traditional song context. "Motivation" and "Saucer Surfing" in particular have some classic riffs. I like to refer to this stuff as sounding like the happy version of 70s era Pink Floyd. Feeling comfortable as a solo artist, Hillage references Gong a little more, especially in the goofy call and response of "Light In The Sky" and the Radio Gnome informed "Octave Doctors." He scores another great cover song too with the closing version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," which retains the Bo Diddley beat but injects the song with a cosmic vibe.

As a warning, there is a certain amount of cheese present here. Hillage's lyrics are often hopelessly new age naive, but he sounds so happy singing them that I can't help but forgive him. He projects a lot of joy in his music that glosses over some potential rough spots. There's also even more 70's white boy funk present here, but the band is more than limber and I think they make it through ok.

Motivation Radio may be the best introduction to Hillage. It retains most of his trademark sound, but serves it up in a more pop sort of context. As a result, Hillage's best compositions are present here.

Buy Me:
Steve Hillage - 1977 - Motivation Radio

Steve Hillage - 1976 - L

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

Let's try to ignore the terrible new age hangover cover art, L is where Steve Hillage really comes into focus as a solo artist. Giving him some focus is producer Todd Rungren, who also brought along a few musicians from his Utopia band. Also joining the band is Hillage's longtime girlfriend, Miquette Giraudy. She would eventually match Hillage's guitar with her cosmic synths, although here she is just providing some background vocals and playing something called 'Isis vibes." Still, this is the start of a great musical collaboration that continues to this day in their electronic act System 7.

Ironically, Hillage finds his own voice in part through a few covers, which bookend the album muc has the prog epics did on Fish Rising. He opens the disc with a phenomenal version of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man." Bypassing the proto-heavy metal crunch of the original, Hillage uses the track as a launching point for his echoing sonic explorations. The track eventually drifts into the sweeping pads and eventual climax of the original composition "Hurdy Gurdy Glissando." Closing the album is a cover of George Harrison's "It's All Too Much." This one is far less essential and somewhat closer to the sound of the original, but it's very pleasant.

Between these tracks is one of of Hillage's signature tracks, "Electrick Gypsies." It very much encompasses what will come to define the Hillage vibe, with soaring guitar, a slight 70's funkiness, and cheesy but earnest new age lyrics. Hillage's voice doesn't have much range and it's a bit thin, but he always sounds completely committed and I find his singing infectious. I don't think anyone else could sing this one without making it cringeworthy. "Lunar Musick Suite" is another prog epic, although slightly more condensed than the Fish Rising tracks at twelve minutes. Rundgren's production also helps a lot, giving the track the crisp sound it requires and more focus. His Utopia band mates fill in nicely for Hillage's missing Gong comrades.

I feel that L is the first real Hillage solo album. Here he carves out a sound that can recall his old bands, but also brings something distinctly new to the table. This is Hillage as the quintessential new age informed space rocker.

Buy Me:
Steve Hillage - 1976 - L

Steve Hillage - 1975 - Fish Rising

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Steve Hillage was a phenomenal space guitarist (not that he's dead or anything; it's just that now he's more of an electronic guru) best known for being the axeman during Gong's prime, although he shines in lesser known projects such as Khan. In terms of sheer skill and interstellar trippiness, Hillage blows the far more famous space guitarist David Gilmour out of the water. For this particular niche of guitar music, Hillage really is the best there is.

This album was recorded while Hillage was still affiliated with Gong. The basic sound of this album seems to be an extension of Gong's You. In fact, he dragged along Gong drummer Pierre Moerlin, saxophonist Didier Malherbe, and bassist Mike Howlett along for the ride. This isn't to say that there aren't some major differences. While You drifts into extended grooves and synthesized ether, there is far more instrumental interplay and soloing here. I'd say that Fish Rising is much more of a tradtitional prog album than anything Gong ever did. For me, this is a tiny strike against Fish Rising as I'm not much of proghead, but it could very well be a positive for you. Also, a key component of earlier Gong is the strange humor of Daevid Allen and Gilli Smith. They are nowhere to be found here, and while Hillage has a quirky charm of his own, it doesn't come out as strongly in an atmosphere so reminiscent of Gong.

More annoying is the production. Hillage takes the production reigns himself, and while he would eventually become a fine producer, the sound here gets a little muddy. After hearing Moerlin's drumming with a crisp sound on Gong albums, it's a little disappointing to hear him smeared along the canvas. Keep in mind that this disc is very much a proper remaster, and is far from unlistenable, I just feel that this music would be best heard with a little more definition.

Songwise, the album is bookended by some prog epics. "Solar Musick Suite" and "Aftaglid" both clock in around 15 minutes and include some very extended instrumental sections. I prefer "Solar Music Suite" as it flows more and has a much less lumbering main riff than "Aftaglid." In the end though, both tracks tax my attention span a little bit. Sandwiched between is the short "Fish," the synth swirling "Meditation Of The Snake," and "The Salmon Song." "Meditation Of The Snake" recalls the more esoteric synth side of Gong's You, and that makes it winner in my book. "The Salmon Song" is a far more 'concise' prog rocker at eight and a half minutes, but it has the benefit of including a killer guitar riff.

I feel like Fish Rising was conceived more as a 'side project' to the mothership band of Gong. Hillage would sound much more committed on his second solo album after leaving Gong. Hillage did better soaring than grounded with a heavy prog sound. Just as a side note, I always get an image of midgets dancing around a tiny model of Stonehenge 5:44 into bonus track "Pentagrammaspin."

Buy Me:
Steve Hillage - 1975 - Fish Rising

Spacemen 3 - 1991 - Recurring

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Recurring is really a Spacemen 3 album in name only. Once the 90's had rolled around, Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce's relationship had become so acrimonious that the two wouldn't even enter the studio together. In fact, I don't think they both appear on any of the album's tracks. Thus, we get sort of a weird double EP with Boom's tracks on side one and Pierce's tracks on side two. Even the backing is different as Boom uses some friends and a few folk that would follow him on to his next project, Spectrum. Pierce's backing is in fact the first line-up of Spiritualized. I guess Spacemen 3 simply had a contract to finish. Let's look at this as two separate collections.

I thought Sonic Boom supplied the better tracks on Playing With Fire (although only by a hair or two), but he sounds positively wasted here. Tracks like the opening "Big City," "I Love You," and "Why Couldn't I See" include some lame automated-sounding backing and a half baked 'Madchester' influence. Unfortunately, that influence comes through like a second-rate Inspirial Carpets. To add insult to injury, his vocals are a big cut below previous performances and he comes across as drug-addled bored rather than surreal and altered. With some different arranging and performances, these would've been a lot better. Maybe that's where Boom needed Pierce. I can't really say that for "Just To See You Smile," which appears in a vocal and instrumental version. Actually, it's a fine song with great production, but it was also a fine song with great production on Playing With Fire, where it was called "Honey" and sounded EXACTLY THE SAME.

Fortunately for this album, Pierce came in with his game face on. His tracks with the soon-to-be Spiritualized take the gospel vibe of Pierce's Playing With Fire tracks and amp up the production and dreaminess. With Boom out of the picture, Pierce goes for an airy, atmospheric drone rather than Spacemen 3's previous pulsing drone (not that there's anything wrong with a pulsing drone). Blessed with some great organic performances, this side of the album seriously contrasts with side a's badly programmed beats. The tracks on this side are uniformly great and serve as the not-so-missing link between Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized.

If you're new to this album, it would probably be in your best interest to skip to track 8 in case you have trouble stomaching Boom's songs. Or you might try the Mudhoney cover of "When Tomorrow Hits" on track 7 which harkens back to the Sound Of Confusion-era style. Mr. Boom manages to come through ok on that one.

Buy Me:
Spacemen 3 - 1991 - Recurring

Spacemen 3 - 1989 - Playing With Fire

Quality: 5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5


Spacemen 3 finally live up to the space rock potential of their name on their third album, Playing With Fire. Excepting some programmed sounding drums, the band basically drops all conventional rhythmic structure, building songs of of pulsing, delayed, and droning guitars and synths. Most of the album creates a dreamy pad for the songs to float on, although we do get the buzzsaw drones of "Revolution" and "Suicide" to break things up.

At this point, the band was no longer projecting a united creative front, and it's clear that Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce were veering off in very different directions of psychedelia. Pierce's tracks like "Come Down Softly To My Soul" and "Lord Can Your Hear Me" are very dreamy, but seeped in old school R&B and surprisingly gospel. It's no coincidence that his later band would be dubbed Spiritualized, and the roots of that band are more than apparent here. Pierce's lyrics are surprisingly direct. Sonic Boom goes for a much colder sound, working with cycling drones and dispassionate, surreal vocals. Fortunately, on Playing With Fire these approaches compliment each other well and make the album all the better for it.

Everything on the proper album is quite good. As much as I enjoy Pierce's gospel-psych (which he would majestically perfect in his later band), it's Boom's strange droning that really does it for me here. "How Does It Feel" in particular takes the sound world of the earlier "Ecstasy Symphony" and gives it a little more definition and shape. The lyrics are somewhat cliched, but Boom's distant, unattached vocal gives it a few more layers. It's easily one of my favorite Spacemen 3 tracks. "Revolution" and "Suicide" adds distortion to the drones and basically tries to pummel your brain into a trance state. Once again, "Revolution" includes some strange lyrics, with Boom desperately pleading that revolution "takes only five seconds." It doesn't make any sense, but he sounds damn serious about it.

The opening track "Honey," is the only one that even tries to combine Pierce's and Boom's visions. With the vocals practically backshifting through time and an echoplexed sound, Boom's contribution is apparent. But unlike his other tracks on the album, Pierce's undercurrent of soul is also present. I guess they were playing nice that day (as they functioned mostly as bitter rivals by this point), and it resulted in one of the album's best tracks.

This disc is probably not the best introduction to this band, the Perfect Prescription is still a better place to start. Once you've attuned yourself to the sonic sphere of Spacemen 3, you may find that Playing With Fire is the band at their very peak. The kind of recent reissue includes a plethora of live tracks, demos, and a couple of random tracks. There's a Pierce-led version of "May The Circle Be" unbroken that is fun.

As a little note, the 4.25 Trip-O-Meter rating is basically averaging about 3.5 for Pierce's tracks along with the full 5 for Sonic Boom's tracks. The quality is obviously very high throughout.

Buy Me:
Spacemen 3 - 1989 - Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3 - 1987 - Forged Prescriptions

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

Forged Prescription is sort of an outtakes collection, with the core of the set focusing on alternate versions and mixes of the Perfect Prescription album. Typically outtakes suggest lesser or unfinished versions of songs. Here, however, we find the tracks adorned with additional production and coming across as arguable trippier. Supposedly the band did not issue these versions in the first place because they couldn't reproduce these versions live. Considering the fact that these guys haven't played a concert for more than 15 years, I now consider this version of the album to be almost definitive (in fact, I'll be skipping the Perfect Prescription for now as my disc is at my parents' house- unless someone wants to help me out with some mp3s).

Within the space of a year, Jason Pierce and Sonic Boom seemed to have sharpened their vision considerably, and this album is the Spacemen 3 sound in full blossom. Whereas Sound Of Confusion had a very dark edge to it, Forged Prescriptions is much more friendly and accessible album. These guys still come across as junkies as titles like "Come Down Easy," "Feel So Good," and "Call The Doctor" do little to refute, but the sound is far more textured and bright. It's sort of the reverse of the Velvet Underground's "Heroin." That song had a harrowing musical edge combined with lyrics about the ecstasy of drugs. Here, the lyrics are quite self abusing while the songs themselves float above the surface of the waters. Maybe Nancy Reagan's "just say no" crusade had at least a subliminal effect on Pierce and Sonic Boom.

The original album did have a superior sequencing documenting a blissful narcotic trip taking a eventual severe shift down (the album ends with "Call The Doctor," but it wouldn't be too difficult to resequence the tracks. I'd also replace the still good demo of "Come Down Easy" with the slicker produced version hanging out on disc two.

At this point, Boom and Pierce were still working together pretty well, giving the album a great unity. After the pounding fury of "Thing's Never Be The Same," starting off the album here in a far more swirling and intense mix, the album becomes quite a bit more chilled out, juxtaposing cloudy atmospheres with some wasted white boy blues.

The strange centerpiece of the album in my mind is the peak trip duo of "Transparent Radiation" and "Ecstasy Symphony" (unfortunately separated here; make sure to stick them back together). "Transparent Radiation" is a Red Crayola cover, although I consider Spacemen 3's take definitive. The band distills the Red Crayola's phased chaos for a truly interstellar atmosphere. "Ecstasy Symphony" takes it one step further, bringing the pulsing sound into an extended instrumental exploration of psychedelic bliss.

Among the extra tracks here are some also nice covers of Sun Ra's "Starship," and Rock Erickson's "We Sell Soul," which was originally played by Erickson's first band, The Spades. They aren't quite as inspired as "Transparent Radiation," but they are still quite successful. WE also get a few 'virtual' covers. "Ode To Street Hassle" is an original song, but as is apparent from the title, they are clearly attempting to channel. They also go for Reed on the Velvet Underground referencing "Velvet Jam," and "Soul 1," which always makes me think of the Velvet's "Booker T" jam. These last two tracks are more of instrumental noodlings, not in league with the A-list material, but still enjoyable.

My only real complaint here is the submersion of The Perfect Prescription album opener, "take Me To The Other Side." I guess they didn't have an alternate for this stellar track- it only appears in demo version on disc 2.

Although not a 'proper' album, Forged Prescriptions is Spacemen 3 at their best. They'd continue to make some great music after this period, but the personal and working relationship between Pierce and Sonic Boom would severely fracture after this. Here we get a unified Spacemen 3 at the top of their game.

Buy Me:
Spacemen 3 - 1987 - Forged Prescriptions

Spacemen 3 - 1986 - Sound Of Confusion

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

The 80's as many of you know harbored a psychedelic/garage revival. Solid bands like the Chesterfield Kings but out some very nice, although dated sounding albums reliving the raunched-out dreams of garage deviants. Spacemen 3, however, existed in a separate sphere. On their debut, Sound Of Confusion, the band clearly exists in a garage band line-up with bass, drum, a couple guitars, and sneering vocals, and they had the playing chops of your average garage band (which is to say not much). Conceptually though, Spacemen 3 were something else entirely and even here don't sound dated. On top of the garage compositions present on the album (originals and some choice covers), the band has adopted a Velvet Underground stomp and the industrial drone of bands like Suicide and Throbbing Gristle to basically create a new form of psychedelia. This is definitely evocative of the "bad trip" and a creepy narcotic buzzing. And it's all the better for it.

At this point in time, band leaders Jason Pierce and Sonic Boom were working very much in tandem and it's difficult to make out whose contributions are what. Their songs are relatively simple, but wonderfully direct. "Losing Touch With My Mind" is a great stomping opener which is as good an introduction to the group at this point as anything. Also standing out as a highlight is "O.D. Catastrophe," which lives up to it's name and is an early attempt at the band's epic drone.

Spacemen 3 also try their hand at a few cover tracks, stamping their own identity on the songs as a good cover version should do. They alter the 13th Floor Elevator's "Rollercoaster," eschewing Rocky Erickson's wildman wail and the pulsing electric jug for a narcotic rush. It's difficult to talk about this band without making drug references, as the band itself basically begs for them. They sound pretty seedy and dangerous most of the time. Girls, don't take these fellows home to mom; they'd probably have an overdose fit and then steal your jewelry to sell for more scag. Personally, I love their music, but I'd be scared to be in the same room as them (unless it's a concert hall) judging by the sound here.

They also do a fine version of the Stooges "Little Doll." It still sounds more like Spacemen 3 than the Stooges, but the desperate proto-punk sound of the Stooges is a little closer to what these guys do. I guess that the difference is that Spacemen 3 drain the song of it's swing and syncopation, focusing the song's rhythm like a needle into the vein (dammit! there I go again). There's also a cover of Juicy Lucy's "Just One Time" renamed "Mary Anne," but I have to admit that I'm not familiar with the original. The version here is pretty groovy on its own.

Stressing their arrangements as much as anything else, Spacemen 3 would often rework their songs in very different ways. Here we get an early version of "Walking With Jesus" from the same-titled EP as a bonus track. Later it would become a floating, acoustically interstellar track, but here we get it in a primitive sounding pummeling. It's not better or worse, just different, and very interesting. There's also the 17 long minute of "Rollercoaster" which adds some more sound effects, cuts out the drumming, and of course gives the listener far more time to succumb to the tracks distorted drone, if that's what you want to do. It's the best dose of Spacemen 3's trademark hypnotism present on the disc.

Spacemen 3 would perfect their very own form of psychedelia on their next two albums. The tracks here are a little more informed by the past, but as a good debut should, it provides a great entry point for the band. I think Sound Of Confusion is often underrated in Spacemen 3's catalog, but I feel it's just as essential as one of their great albums.

Buy Me:
Spacemen 3 - 1986 - Sound Of Confusion

Spacemen 3 - 1986 - Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

These tracks make up Spacemen 3's first stab at recording Sound Of Confusion. The title pretty much sums up the band's credo, although I feel that their music works perfectly fine as a drug without the listener having to ingest anything. It does make for a damn fine album title though.

Supposedly the band prefers these demo-quality tracks to the actual album. Personally, I think the drop in recording quality loses more than we might gain from any increase in the playing confidence; they did a damn good job on the proper album in that department anyway. I'll leave it to you which one is better.

Even if you don't consider this essential, the band does try out a few songs that they wouldn't return to for the proper album or tracks that they would later alter quite a bit (although "Come Down Easy" appears in a low-fi version of pretty much the same arrangement). It's worth a listen for the dedicated Spacemen fan.

Buy Me:
Spacemen 3 - 1986 - Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To

David Axelrod - 1970 - Earth Rot

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

Earth Rot finds David Axelrod crawling a bit out of his comfort zone. There is still a great amount of Axelrod's trademark jazz-lounge arrangements at work here, but also a few notable changes. Unlike the first two solo albums, we hear some vocals on here, begging more comparisons with his work with the Electric Prunes.

Axelrod always worked with some sort of concept for his albums, and here he's tackling an early environmental message. The tracks titles break the album into two halves with his "Warning Talk" and "The Sign." Realistically, these still function as eight individual tracks, but I think it helps to consider this as part of a greater whole as Axelrod never ventures to far from his primary sound. With this in mind, we'll give the second side's "The Sign" the edge although "The Warning Talk" is still some solid music.

The vocals do help add a little diversity to Axelrod's style, and what vocals show up serve more as punctuation to the music rather than the backbone of the songs. The core is still instrumental, but I do enjoy the 5th Dimension style interruptions. Thus we can take Earth Rot one step past the psychedelic lounge label into psychedelic muzak (but in a good way). The opening and closing speeches makes me think of a bleached-out version of George Clinton's early Funkadelic epics (Axelrod and early Funkadelic did share the Stateside label around this time).

As always, there's a slight touch of jazz-funk twisting the music into something a little more interesting. The breakbeats still crop up regularly. It's still best to approach this with an open mind, as the psychedelia is often subtle and probably requires a few listens.

With it's slightly later date and slight stylistic shift, Earth Rot tends to be a touch underrated, especially when compared with Axelrod's first two solo albums. I like to think of it as a strong close to a trilogy of solidly strange albums. In many ways, the more pronounced concept makes it my favorite of Axelrod's work.

Buy Me:
David Axelrod - 1970 - Earth Rot

David Axelrod - 1969 - Songs Of Experience

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.25 out of 5

David Axelrod continued his jazz-inflected, William Blake inspired instrumental psychedelic ramblings with with second solo album. As usual, Axelrod's compositional and arranging skills are quite enviable. If nothing else, there's an extremely professional hand at work behind these recordings. Alas, it's not quite as freaky as the albums chronologically surrounding it, but it's still a pretty solid listen.

Once again, Axelrod coaxes some funky, sample-worthy performances out of the rhythm section. In general, the sound here is pretty close to the previous year's Song Of Innocence. On this one, the melodies are a touch darker, perhaps the 'experience' at work, and there is even more orchestral presence. Keep in mind that this probably fits the 'psychedelic lounge music' bill to an even greater degree than Axelrod's other late-60's recordings.

With no slacking off in the arranging department, we've got to look at the melodies. I have to admit that these don't do it for me quite as much as what we heard on the previous album. The sound here is a little more crisp, but I kind of enjoyed the slightly murky sound that Axelrod achieved on the last album. Songs Of Experience is rear-loaded, with the best compositions showing up at the end. "The Human Abstract," "The Fly," and "The Divine Image" do the best job of creating the strangely phased out of the mainstream sound that I consider Axelrod's strong suit. Opening track "The Poison Tree" mixes a enjoyable typical Axelrod arrangement with a touch of solo violin.

This is still part of Axelrod's prime, and should be considered essential listening for anyone wanting to enter his sound sphere. Still, I'd go for Song Of Innocence or the next year's Earth Rot first, and come here if you feel yourself hankering for more.

Buy Me:
David Axelrod - 1969 - Songs Of Experience

David Axelrod - 1968 - Songs Of Innocence

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

Song Of Innocence was David Axelrod's proper solo debut. Freed of the rock trappings of his work with the Electric Prunes, Axelrod takes on a much jazzier sound than those productions entail (and Axelrod was in fact a renown producer for jazz legends such as Cannonball Adderley). The truth is, it's best to view this as psychedelic lounge music or psychedelic elevator music if you will. I have an affinity for exotica like Martin Denny, and this is really halfway between that and the Electric Prunes. If this doesn't turn you off, you'll likely find something here to enjoy.

Axelrod's compositional style remains intact here, but his sonic ingredients are far more varied. The almost pompous burst of orchestra remain, but we also find some juicy interruptions from vibraphones, horn solos, along with more chilled out psychedelic-jazz licks. Also of note is of course the rhythm section. In the past 15 years or so, Axelrod's breakbeats have been endlessly sampled by the hip-hop and electronic scenes (DJ Shadow has practically made Axelrod samples his signature). There's a fine line between squareness and hipness present in Axelrod's music.

Once again (for Axelrod) coming in well under the 30 minute mark, Song Of Innocence works best as a piece. Although immaculately arranged, there is a stylistic unity running through these tracks. The parts are pretty good, but they best exist together. I personally dig the square-funk vibe of "Holy Thursday,"the slightly more rock like title track, and the arranged psychedelia of "The Mental Traveler."

Technically, this is a concept album, with Axelrod inspired by the peoms of William Blake, but I don't think a familiarity with Blake is necessary; this is all instrumental. Axelrod thrives on goofy pretension, and I suppose Blake is a fine a springboard as any for his sonic journeys.

If you're approaching this from a psych angle, make sure to give this one a few listens. Song Of Innocence is all about texture, and chances are you'll not really "get it" this first time around. Once you find the sonic key to Axelrod's world however, it can be a highly amusing place.

The Electric Prunes - 1968 - Release Of An Oath

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

Pretty much dipping into the same well as Mass In F Minor, Dave Hassinger and David Axelrod worked out some traditional Jewish chants for a second religiously themed concept album. This time out though, there really were no actual Electric Prunes present. Hassinger and Axelrod simply had rights to the established name, and constucted a new core band along with a compliment of L.A. session players for this one. Even more than Mass In F Minor, Release Of An Oath should probably be labeled with David Axelrod's now cult-worthy name.

The album remains a strong effort, and there's a touch more melody and assimilation of the themes into the arrangements. "Holy Are You" in particular manages to equal and maybe even top F Minor's "Kyrie Eleison." Maybe the Jewish melodies just have a little more meat on the bones (edit: Wikipedia says only the first track is Jewish; the rest is actually based on orthodox Christian prayers). This too is a short album (24 minutes) and doesn't have a ton of variation. Axelrod is very much working in the same style of hip-hop precursor drums, wailing acid guitar leads, and bombastic swoops from the orchestra. Yes, it still sounds good, but there's nothing new to really distinguish the album from the last. According to the liner notes, Mr. Axelrod sort of got shoved into making this one, so it may just stem from a workmanlike effort and a lack of inspiration.

More annoying for me is that the chants on Release Of An Oath are all sung in English. I thought that the Latin-sung chants of F Minor added a mysterious atmosphere to the proceeding that is lost here. It brings everything a small step closer to being a real religious rock album instead of a tripped out approximation of one (I prefer the latter if you're keeping count).

Although laden with a few shortcomings, Release Of An Oath does make a nice pair with Mass In F Minor. I suppose it's only fair that we get a psychedelic synagogue to go along with the cathedral. These two albums also make a nice rock introduction to David Axelrod, whose first three albums we'll visit in the next few posts.

Buy Me:
The Electric Prunes - 1968 - Release Of An Oath

The Electric Prunes - 1968 - Mass In F Minor

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

I used to think that F minor was the psychedelic key, kind of like how A minor is often cited as the best key for depressing songs. Anyway, I'm sure that I made the connection out of strange recollections of this album. It's one of the best examples of pre-fab production psych out there

Realistically, this isn't really an Electric Prunes. It's more of a studio based wacked out concept album along the lines of the Zodiac's Cosmic Sounds. The Prunes became tenuously attached as producer Dave Hassinger wanted to find a more commercial vehicle for the band and somehow came upon the concept of psychedelic Catholic chants. It seems that the Prunes ended up a bit used and abused, but the word is that they went along for the ride anyway.

Holding the creative tiller was none other than cult jazz/psych guru, David Axelrod. Axelrod is responsible for all of the arranging duties on this album (I think we'll keep the basic composition credits with some long dead Catholic monks), and he did a very groovy job. The trouble was that his arrangements were a little over the heads of the talented, but not musically schooled fellows making up the garage rocking Electric Prunes. Thus, the band ended up as little more than session musicians on their own album accompanying even more session musicians. There's an urban legend that the Prunes don't even show up on the record. The rhythm section of bassist Mark Tulin and drummer Quint do play on every track, and singer James Lowe remains as the lead voice of the monastic vocal, but it's still clearly Axelrod in the creative driver's seat.

Once you get the bad taste out of your mouth of the band being sidelined, you'll find that this is a damn fine album. In fact, it's more consistent than any of the band's proper releases, although the awesome pop punch of "I Had To Much To Dream Last Night" or "A Long Day's Flight" is notably absent. You will find the psychedelic religious strains of "Kyrie Eleison," which is very recognizable from its use in the film Easy Rider. It's also the most basic psych rock style track on the album, especially with the nails-on-glass noise explosion of the instrumental mid section.

For the rest of this short album (26 minutes!) Axelrod adopts an M.O. that renders the tracks a little formulaic. We get short passages of the Latin-language church chants bridged together by instrumental sections mostly alternating between blasts of acid fried guitar leads and amusingly pompous fanfares from the orchestra. "Benedictus" includes a notable keyboard and bass guitar break as well. Fortunately, Axelrod's arranging skills are top notch and keep things interesting throughout.

This disc is really more of an Axelrod album than an Electric Prunes album, and if you approach it as such I think you'll find plenty to like. Listen and enter the psychedelic gothic cathedral.

Buy Me:
The Electric Prunes - 1968 - Mass In F Minor

Silver Apples - 1969 - Contact

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Silver Apples second album, Contact, seems to be of a pair with their debut album in most respects. It's another fine example of primordial electronic rock, but the band did manage to refine and shift a few elements to keep things interesting. First of all, the band's songwriting has kicked up a notch. There are more rhythmic and melodic variations to distinguish the song, although the band does retain it's basic drone. Even more obvious is the increased presence of Simeon's, uh, "Simeon" instrument. There is a much thicker wall of electronics saturating the album while the production of the instrument is also much cleaner. Simeon also throws a banjo into a few tracks like "Ruby" and "Confusion," but I'm not sure if electronic bluegrass was the best idea. We'll count those two as misses.

Much better ideas crop up on the opener "You And I." With the new forest of oscillators in place, Simeon intones some truly cosmic lyrics to a catchy, yet unpredictable melody. Even better is "I Have Known Love," which is one of my favorite songs pretty much in general. The very tripped out lyrics like "I have learned what truth denies/I drank the teardrops from her eyes" are apparently courtesy of Simeon's then-girlfriend. The pulsing electronics here are top notch, and I find the slightly out-of-tune harmony vocal strangely charming. This is the quintessential Silver Apples track.

The band does better with long forms songs here too. There are four songs present hanging around the six minute mark, and they're all better than "Dancing Gods" off of the last disc. "Gypsy Love" and "You're Not Fooling Me" manage this by successfully stretching out the band's trademark drone. "Gypsy Love" sounds what would've been a fine garage punk song a few years earlier, bludgeoned by the electronic prism here. "A Pox On You" is more on the creepy side of things, with the "Simeon" throwing out some horror movie tones into the mix.

The closing "Fantasies" is a mixed bag. Much of the instrumental work is truly awesome (especially the drumming), while on the other hand there is a solo of "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo," which is probably never a good idea anywhere. Also, Simeon rants along in a badly recorded vocal track which I could probably do without. Oh well, maybe you can play some mental games and try to tune him out for this one.

Contact includes enough evolution to act as an interesting counterpart to the debut album. Basically the tracks here are either better or worse than the ones from the first disc. Make what you will.

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Silver Apples - 1969 - Contact

Silver Apples - 1968 - Silver Apples

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5


Even among the cutting edge early electronic rock acts of the late 60's, the Silver Apples were an anomaly. Bands like The United States Of America, The White Noise, and Fifty Foot Hose (all of who should eventually appear on this site) tended to perform more traditional songs, albeit with electronic instrumentation, juxtaposed with wild electronic weirdness. Silver Apples had a more consistent, unified, and droning sound. They're always at their strangest.

The band is only a duo, with hugely underrated drummer Danny Taylor provided complicated, organic beats while his partner Simeon supplies the vocals, electronic bass lines, and wailing oscillations from his namesake instrument. Yes, Simeon plays the "Simeon," a series of custom made oscillators which provide for most of the overt freakiness here.

"Oscillations" is a fine introduction to the band with it's pulsing beat and echoing, alien tones. This band's ace in the hole was the ability to actually write catchy songs, even if they were dresses in interstellar clothing, and "Oscillations" will stick in your head like glue.

Truth be told, there isn't a ton of variation in the Silver Apples sound (it is a duo after all), but no one else has ever sounded like this, so they certainly could deliver for two albums in the 60's. There are some minor touches to distinguish the song, such as flute in "Seagreen Serenades," and found sound in "Program."

As odd as it is, most of the songs here really are pop songs mutated into something sounding like it was beamed from Neptune. The band only attempts epic, chanting mode on "Dancing Gods," and it's probably my least favorite track on the album.

Even beyond the songs, this is very worth hearing as the source for plenty of influence. Suicide would later borrow this band's droning electronic pulse, while modern analog disciples such as Stereolab have to count this among their influences. Silver Apples don't quite have the punch of a Velvet Underground, but they inarguably have earned "groundbreaking" status.

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Silver Apples - 1968 - Silver Apples