The Eclectic Mouse - Everything I Got 1970

The Eclectic Mouse Was The Nickname Of Master Percussionist Steve Forman, Who Released One LP And A Supporting 45 On Capitol Records In 1969 Under That Moniker. The Album, Titled 'Everything I've Got' (Subtitled 'Suite For Voice, Wind Ensemble, Percussion And Electric Instruments'), Is A Very Interesting One To Say The Least, With Highly Original "Movements" That Feature Numerous Wind And Percussion Instruments And Were All Written, Arranged And Conducted By Forman Himself. The Stand Out Track On The Record Is The Amazing 'Where Do The Hounds Go?', Which Can Be Best Described As A Highly Energetic Fusion Of Paranoid "Jazz From Hell" And Rock. Another relatively unknown early American progressive rock gem you won't find on the other prog websites, The Eclectic Mouse was the vehicle for one Steve Forman; a Phoenix, Arizona conductor who is still in the music business apparently, but never got around to recording a follow-up. How this album and The Eclectic Mouse came together is unknown as precious little information is available anywhere, but it was released on Capitol, and had enough confidence to back it with a single release. Never on CD, copies in the original thick cardboard gatefold sleeve are hard to find and very expensive these days as its reputation continues to grow.

Everything I've Got' is a product of it's time-when classical, pop, and jazz styles fused as one. A blip on the continuum when Mason Williams' 'Classical Gas' reached the American Top 40 all the way to number two, The Nice unleashed Leonard Bernstein's 'America' while burning the American flag, and psychedelia was very much in the air. This is classical rock at its best as The Eclectic Mouse plugged into the fuzzy, color-splashed spirit of the new age. The concept here is pretty much the story of a guy trying to find himself in the world and as tired as that well-worn tale sounds, musical it's a fun listen. It's not just classical, but jazz that provides the album's musical colors, and the vocalists are good, no complaints there as the songs all written by Foreman are uniformly interesting. The album's single which was edited for the masses sounds like Jethro Tull mixed with Blood Sweat & Tears. Nicely done, and come to think of it that's a pretty good synopsis of the album as a whole.

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