boysmithers

Music for jellyfish.

This is only currently available as part of the Grateful Dead Records Collection compilation, but I'm reviewing it here as I wanted to listen to "Steal Your Face". It was an official live album so I don't know if there are vocal overdubs, but it all sounds pretty good to me.

There's a very strange running order to begin with, alternating between Bob's Chuck Berry covers and Jerry's beautiful ballads, but those ballads ("Cold Rain and Snow" and "Stella Blue" are spot on.

There's a big dip in quality at the start of the second disc, but it is redeemed by a inappropriately laid back take on "Casey Jones".

Nowhere near as good as Skull and Roses or Europe '72… More

The Lord is back with his second proper album. Silver Dragons and Moonrise Over Isengard are where the Lord really comes into his own, these are glorious flute and trumpet blowouts and are possibly the first great LL tracks - if you do not enjoy these, then LL is probably not for you. Mines of Moria is a short but sweet track with mellow harps and woodwind. The back half of the track probably inspired Fief, it sounds more like dancing deep in a forest than working in a mine though... This would be a good album, but obviously the loathsome cover drags it down...

Lord Lovidicus' first album (a short album, or a long EP?) is surprisingly minimal and chilled out considering his later 30 minute trumpet sessions. It peaks with track two Gazing Upon Night Sky From Dungeon Halls which really gets it right in terms of undemanding background music. The next track, Within The Castle Garden continues in the same vein. The cover & the multipart mini epic are less engaging, there are some good bits in the latter but also some really annoying stereo panning and problems with repetition. The album ends on a high note, however with a nice bit of winter synth: A Frozen Landscape (Outro) I can't remember if LL returned to this style ever. In summary, not… More

I listened to this album as part of the Musicbrainz Album Club

This was a completely new artist to me, from the album cover and release date I was expecting some kind of psychedelic rock, but this is more psychotic! The instrumentation is very sparse, percussion and acoustic guitar, so the main focus is the vocals. The vocalist has a great, raw and rough voice, he really pushes it into a bellow or growl and that's when it sounds best. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that this was marketed as some kind of "voodoo rock" at the time, several tracks certainly have a ritual feel, with the relentless percussion and chanting. The best of these is Paul… More

In places, this sounds like the ramblings of a confused, elderly man (which is what is is) but that doesn't mean that it's not also great (in places). Strong backing from The Orb throughout, but the standout is Golden Clouds, a remake of Little Fluffy Clouds.