Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen 1967

At a time when a growing number of pop songwriters were embracing a more explicitly poetic approach in their lyrics, the 1967 debut album from Leonard Cohen introduced a songwriter who, rather than being inspired by "serious" literature, took up music after establishing himself as a published author and poet. The ten songs on Songs of Leonard Cohen were certainly beautifully constructed, artful in a way few (if any) other lyricists would approach for some time, but what's most striking about these songs isn't Cohen's technique, superb as it is, so much as his portraits of a world dominated by love and lust, rage and need, compassion and betrayal. While the relationship between men and women was often the framework for Cohen's songs (he didn't earn the nickname "the master of erotic despair" for nothing), he didn't write about love; rather, Cohen used the never-ending thrust and parry between the sexes as a jumping off point for his obsessive investigation of humanity's occasional kindness and frequent atrocities (both emotional and physical). Cohen's worldview would be heady stuff at nearly any time and place, but coming in a year when pop music was only just beginning to be taken seriously, Songs of Leonard Cohen was a truly audacious achievement, as bold a challenge to pop music conventions as the other great debut of the year, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and a nearly perfectly realized product of his creative imagination. Producer John Simon added a touch of polish to Cohen's songs with his arrangements (originally Cohen wanted no accompaniment other than his guitar), though the results don't detract from his dry but emotive vocals; instead, they complement his lyrics with a thoughtful beauty and give the songs even greater strength. Some of Cohen's finest songs appeared here, including the luminous "Suzanne," the subtly venomous "Master Song" and "Sisters of Mercy," which would later be used to memorable effect in Robert Altman's film McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Many artists work their whole career to create a work as singular and accomplished as Songs of Leonard Cohen, and Cohen worked this alchemy the first time he entered a recording studio; few musicians have ever created a more remarkable or enduring debut. AMG.

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Lonnie Mack - Whatever's Right 1969

With a passel of familiar faces in the cast (ex-James Brown bassist Tim Drummond, pianist Dumpy Rice, harpist Rusty York), the reclusive Mack rocks up some memorable dusties his way -- the Falcons' "I Found a Love," and Bobby Bland's "Share Your Love with Me," Little Walter's "My Babe," and Jimmy Reed's chestnut "Baby What You Want Me to Do," along with his own "Gotta Be an Answer." AMG.

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Jeff Simmons - Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up 1969

The longtime bassist for Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Jeff Simmons also issued a rare solo LP for Zappa's Straight imprint, the 1970 cult classic Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up. Born and raised in Seattle, Simmons first earned local notoriety as the singer/guitarist for Indian Puddin' & Pipe, a popular Pacific Northwest psychedelic band that in 1967 signed with producer Matthew Katz's San Francisco Sound label. Katz -- the infamously unscrupulous manager of Moby Grape, It's a Beautiful Day, and other luminaries of the San Francisco psych scene -- structured his contracts so that different lineups could appear under a given group's name anytime and anywhere he desired, and he ultimately bestowed the Indian Puddin' & Pipe moniker on a rival Seattle act previously known as the West Coast Natural Gas. Left without legal recourse, Simmons and his bandmates (guitarist Peter Larson, bassist Phil Kirby, and drummer Albert Malosky) returned to Seattle and rechristened themselves Easy Chair, issuing their one-sided, self-titled debut LP on the Vanco label in 1968. After another name change, this time to Ethiopia, the group opened for the Mothers of Invention in Seattle and later appeared alongside Wild Man Fischer, Alice Cooper, and the GTOs at Bizarre Records' legendary "Gala Pre-Xmas Bash" at Santa Monica's Shrine Exhibition Hall in early December of 1968. Zappa soon after convinced Ethiopia to relocate to Los Angeles, pairing the group with producers Jerry Yester and Val Zanofsky. When nothing concrete emerged from the sessions, the group dissolved but Zappa quickly offered Simmons his own two-record deal with Straight. The first, a largely instrumental soundtrack to an obscure biker film titled Naked Angels, features a series of acid-fuzz guitar jams. It was immediately followed by Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up, a more conventionally song-oriented psychedelic opus produced by Zappa under the alias LaMarr Bruister. The album generated little attention outside of Zappa cultists, however, and Simmons was installed as bassist for the Mothers of Invention's late 1970 LP Chunga's Revenge. He left the group during production on Zappa's feature film project 200 Motels, but later returned to the fold for albums including Waka/Jawaka and Roxy & Elsewhere. By the 1980s Simmons returned to Seattle, fronting a series of local acts including the Backtrackers and Cocktails for Ladies. He also wrote an unpublished memoir, I Joined the Mothers of Invention...for the FBI, and in 2005 released Blue Universe, his first new solo material in 35 years. AMG.
 

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Formerly Fat Harry - Formerly Fat Harry 1971

Formerly Fat Harry's only album is one the forgotten greats of late '60s British rock. U.K.-based but formed by Country Joe & the Fish bassist Bruce Barthol, Formerly Fat Harry meshed basic folk rock with elements of funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock; experimented with odd tempos; and quietly created some original, surprisingly intense music in the early 1970s. Fat Harry was soon signed up by the original Pink Floyd management company.

Playing a highly idiosyncratic brand of Americana that frequently experimented with jazz time signatures, the band played at two of the now legendary free concerts in Hyde Park, the 1970 Bath Festival, Phun City, and many of the clubs of the era such as The Marquee in London.

A quartet of 'musician's musicians', admired by everyone from Ralph McTell to Edgar Broughton and Michael Chapman, the group made only one LP for Harvest Records before disbanding in 1972. Though reflecting their musical and songwriting abilities, that record failed to capture their true flavor. ChrisGoesRocAMG

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Tim Maia - Tim Maia 1971

Another fine album. A second foray into mostly the same ideas expressed in one prior, following classic soul/funk instrumentation, gorgeous chord changes, and showcasing a very fine voice indeed. Sometimes getting a little more of what we've heard is nothing to be ashamed of enjoying. AMG.
 

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Pan - Pan 1973

Released three years after his post-Beau Brummels solo album "Candlemaker", 1973's "Pan" found Ron Elliott returning to the recording environment with the band Pan. Showcasing the talents of singer Keith Barbour, drummer Don Francisco, bassist Sherman Hayes, and lead guitarist Arthur Richards, the high-powered line-up quickly scored a contract with Columbia Records. With Elliott responsible for all of the material, musically the album was quite diverse. Tracks such as 'Long Way Home', 'Garbage Man', and 'More Than My Guitar' made it clear Elliott had been listening to more than his share of early-'70s country-rock bands - echoes of The Flying Burrito Brothers, Michael Nesmith, and Poco abounded throughout the collection. That wasn't to say Elliott had totally lost his fascination with more commercial genres. 'Love Glow (Calamity Jane)' was near-perfect top-40 pop, while 'Lady Honey' and 'Dancing To The Band' both included buoyant CS&Y-styled harmonies. Mind you, the album wasn't perfect. 'Delinga de Mattei' was a throwaway old-timey ballad, while Barbour's performance on 'The Puppet' came precariously close to the MOR material that made him a mid-'60s solo star (though there was no denying he had a killer voice). Speaking of voices, as much as I enjoyed this album, to my ears one of the set's most interesting dynamics lay in how different Barbour and Elliott were. Exemplified by tracks like ' Love Glow (Calamity Jane)', Elliott had a light, commercially-friendly voice. In contrast, Barbour had a deep, gruff, soulful voice. Hearing them sharing lead vocals on the same song ('Long Way Home'), was interesting, if somewhat jarring.

Columbia doesn't seem to have done much to promote the LP. No singles seem to have been released and you seldom run across a copy of the album. Anyhow, anyone expecting to hear Beau Brummels-styled top-40 pop was probably going to be disappointed by the set, which would be unfortunate since the album was quite enjoyable.

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The Damnation of Adam Blessing - Glory 1973

Previously known as the Damnation of Adam Blessing, Glory hailed from Cleveland and recorded one album for the Avalanche label in 1973. Essentially the fourth Damnation of Adam Blessing album, Glory came about as a result of differences with the band's record label (United Artists) over the musical content and direction of the band. The album was in the process of recording but United Artists would not release it so the Damnation of Adam Blessing disbanded only to resurface as Glory. For Glory, two of the band members dropped their stage names, reverting back to their original names, and they toughened up the sound with more hard rock guitar and returned to the simple style of the early Damnation recordings. Glory features nine hard rock songs that are guitar-dominated, with good vocal interaction between the lead singers. After the release of Glory, the band broke up. Ironically, Avalanche Records was a subsidiary of United Artists that only lasted for two album releases. AMG.

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The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation - The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation 1968

On their self-titled debut album, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation flashed a British blues-rock approach that was rather similar to that of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers circa 1967. That was unsurprising considering that leader and drummer Dunbar had played on the Bluesbreakers' 1967 A Hard Road album, and that bassist Alex Dmochowski would later play with Mayall himself. Although everyone in the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation was a skilled player, the record ultimately comes off as rather second-division late-'60s British blues, though in a little heavier and darker a style than Mayall's. That's not to say it's mediocre, but the material (mostly original) is only average, and not quite up to the level of the musicians' instrumental proficiency. Too, Victor Brox isn't the greatest singer, though he's okay, and while Jon Morshead plays guitar well, his style sometimes seems quite influenced by Peter Green (listen especially to his work on the cover of Percy Mayfield's "Memory of Pain"). Additionally, some of the original material wasn't all that original; the work song-style "Watch 'N' Chain" certainly bears similarities to the tune that Donovan popularized under the title "Hey Gyp" (itself similar to a song that Lonnie Young, Ed Young, and Lonnie Young, Jr. had recorded under the title "Chevrolet" on Atlantic's 1960 Roots of the Blues LP of Alan Lomax field recordings [reissued in 1993 under the title Sounds of the South]). It's not a bad record overall, however, with the players getting a chance to take extended solos on the instrumentals "Sage of Sidney Street" and "Mutiny." AMG.

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Can - Tago Mago 1971

With the band in full artistic flower and Damo Suzuki's sometimes moody, sometimes frenetic speak/sing/shrieking in full effect, Can released not merely one of the best Krautrock albums of all time, but one of the best albums ever, period. Tago Mago is that rarity of the early '70s, a double album without a wasted note, ranging from sweetly gentle float to full-on monster grooves. "Paperhouse" starts things brilliantly, beginning with a low-key chime and beat, before amping up into a rumbling roll in the midsection, then calming down again before one last blast. Both "Mushroom" and "Oh Yeah," the latter with Schmidt filling out the quicker pace with nicely spooky keyboards, continue the fine vibe. After that, though, come the huge highlights -- three long examples of Can at its absolute best. "Halleluwah" -- featuring the Liebezeit/Czukay rhythm section pounding out a monster trance/funk beat; Karoli's and Schmidt's always impressive fills and leads; and Suzuki's slow-building ranting above everything -- is 19 minutes of pure genius. The near-rhythmless flow of "Aumgn" is equally mind-blowing, with swaths of sound from all the members floating from speaker to speaker in an ever-evolving wash, leading up to a final jam. "Peking O" continues that same sort of feeling, but with a touch more focus, throwing in everything from Chinese-inspired melodies and jazzy piano breaks to cheap organ rhythm boxes and near babbling from Suzuki along the way. "Bring Me Coffee or Tea" wraps things up as a fine, fun little coda to a landmark record. AMG.

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If - Waterfall 1972

Another fine release from this unjustly ignored jazz-rock aggregation from the U.K. This transitional release, with half the tracks featuring the original lineup and the other half with a new rhythm section, is structured much the same as their earlier albums, with extended instrumental solos tucked inside of pop-rock structured songs. Although a couple of generic-sounding rock albums followed under the If name, Waterfall was, for all intents and purposes, the end of the band. AMG.

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Kris Kristofferson - The Silver Tongued Devil and I 1971

By the time Monument came to release Kristofferson's second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, in July 1971, he was the author of four songs that had topped the country or pop charts for others. Kristofferson himself had not yet reached the charts with a recording of his own, but his spectacular success as a songwriter made The Silver Tongued Devil and I a much-anticipated record. One consequence of this was that Monument was willing to spend more money; three of the album's songs boasted strings and another a horn section. But the key, of course, was still the songwriting, and though there were several excellent songs, the album could not live up to its predecessor, which was the culmination of years of writing. Typically for a second album, Kristofferson reached back into his catalog, presenting his own treatments of "Jody and the Kid" and "The Taker," which had been hits for Roy Drusky and Waylon Jennings, respectively. In his newly written material, Kristofferson continued to examine the lives of society's outcasts, but the antiestablishment tone of some of Kristofferson was gone along with much of the wry humor, and in their place were touches of morbidity and sentimentality. Kristofferson retained his gift for intimate love songs, and the album's most memorable selections turned out to be "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)" (which became a semi-standard) and "When I Loved Her." And even if his observations seemed less acute, his talent for wordplay often rescued the songs from banality. On its way to becoming a gold record, The Silver Tongued Devil and I reached the pop Top 20, Kristofferson's career high on that chart, and the country Top Five; thus, Kristofferson made the transition from being a successful songwriter to a successful recording artist. AMG.

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The Spencer Davis Group - Autumn '66 (1966)

At the peak of their popularity, the Spencer Davis Group's albums were considerably less impressive than their hits and a bit thin on imagination, although they were never less than competent. This, their third LP, relies heavily on soul covers, as well as a few oft-covered blues standards ("Midnight Special," "Mean Woman Blues," "Dust My Blues"). Highlights are their second British number one hit "Somebody Help Me," the decent group original "High Time Baby," Winwood's organ-based instrumental "On the Green Light," and "When I Get Home," which (like "Somebody Help Me") was a hit in Britain, but not the U.S. AMG.

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Paul Korda - Passing Stranger 1971

Paul Korda had worked within the orbit of Immediate Records for some years before recording his debut album for a division of Warner Bros. -- a fact that greatly complicated his situation when the album was pulled over Immediate's claim that he was still under contract to them. It's a pity that the record more or less died on the vine back when, because Korda made a powerful debut, working in the mode of a soulful singer/songwriter, well able to rock out on "To Love a Woman," amid a brace of softer ballads surrounding it. With Chris Spedding, Andy Roberts, and Ray Russell handling the electric guitar chores, while Doris Troy, Nanette Newman, and Madeline Bell sang backup, this was more a full-blown rock affair than some introspective songwriter's confessional, in any case. Between Korda's impassioned vocals and the fully realized rock production, the record should have done better than it was allowed to -- luckily, it's been reissued on CD in Japan, which at least gets the music out there to be heard by those interested enough to look for it. AMG.

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Jefferson Airplane - At The Family Dog Ballroom, San Francisco 1969

Although the European market has been flooded with unauthorized Jefferson Airplane live recordings that are bootlegs in all but name, there has also been a series of apparently legitimate releases with excellent sound and packaging issued by Charly in the U.K. and previously including At Golden Gate Park and Last Flight. This third release in the series comes chronologically in between its predecessors, having been recorded in September 1969. At that time, Jefferson Airplane was in the midst of preparations for its studio album Volunteers, which would be released in November, and five of the songs to be featured on that LP were previewed at this show ("Good Shepherd," "We Can Be Together," "The Farm," "Wooden Ships," and "Volunteers"). In addition, the band was looking forward to the more fragmented state in which it would exist in coming years, with spin-off entities working simultaneously with the main band. Toward the end of the 15-minute opening version of "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil," singer/guitarist Paul Kantner begins introducing material that would turn up later on his 1970 solo album Blows Against the Empire, and "Come Back Baby," a showcase for lead guitarist/singer Jorma Kaukonen, heralds his and bassist Jack Casady's nascent duo Hot Tuna (which recorded its debut album the same month as this show). Jefferson Airplane cannot claim as much justification as the Grateful Dead for putting out a series of live albums; the band had a more limited repertoire than the Dead and was not given to lengthy improvisations to the same extent as its San Francisco contemporary. But in addition to the foreshadowing inclusions already mentioned, this release proves an exception via the inclusion of an energetic 26-minute "Jam" that takes on Dead-like characteristics by including the Dead's lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, as a guest. That will make this album valuable not only to Airplane fanatics, but to Dead fans as well. AMG.

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Peggy's Leg - Grinilla 1973

Peggy's Leg's only album, Grinilla, heard by hardly anyone when it was issued in 1973, is a well-played but limp crossover between folk rock, progressive rock, and late-hippie rock. Most of the six songs here are on the long side, a couple getting to the ten-minute mark, and these tend to be multisectioned works with tempo changes, kind of like a folkier Yes without a keyboard player or strong riffs. Unfortunately, the lyrics are often of the utopian, shallow sort that people who can't stand hippies love to poke fun at. It's not that the sentiments are objectionable; it's more that the way they're presented is naïve and somewhat artless. Apropos of nothing, the record closes with a faithfully unimaginative cover of Love Sculpture's arrangement of "Sabre Dance," which would have easily rated as the best (if most atypical) track of the album had it not been such an unnecessary close copy of the Love Sculpture version. The 2001 CD reissue on Kissing Spell adds an 11-minute, live hard rock instrumental bonus track that's not much of a bonus, with substandard sound and a far-too-long drum solo. AMG.

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The Small Faces - There Are But Four Small Faces 1968

This is where the already-confusing Small Faces discography gets baffling. Designed for the American market in 1968, There Are But Four Small Faces is based upon their 1967 self-titled album for Immediate Records -- the album that should not be confused with the 1966 album called Small Faces on Decca -- but shuffles the running order considerably, cutting out seven songs from the 1967 LP and then adding five songs released on singles: the hits "Itchycoo Park," "Tin Soldier," and "Here Come the Nice," plus the B-sides "I'm Only Dreaming" and "I Feel Much Better." Contrary to the pastoral setting pictured on the album art, this rejiggering preserves the edgy mods of the 1967 album Small Faces, emphasizing their pop propulsion, artful soul, and furious rock & roll. By some measures, the 1967 Immediate LP is their best -- it's adventurous, bright, colorful, and concentrated, the brevity of the songs playing like snappy pop art -- and that essence is here, enhanced by "Tin Soldier," "Here Come the Nice," and "Itchycoo Park," the three greatest singles the band ever cut. As an introduction, it's first-rate, whether it was delivered in 1968 or decades later. [Charly's 2014 reissue of There Are But Four Small Faces contains the stereo mix on the first disc, supplemented by four bonus tracks, while the second contains the "promotional DJ version" mono mix of the album and three bonus tracks, all different than the cuts on the first CD. The stereo bonus tracks have alternate takes and mixes of "Eddie's Dreaming" and "Show Me the Way," an early mix of "Get Yourself Together," and an alternate take of "(Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me." The mono bonus tracks contain a TV backing track for "Tin Soldier," the "USA Version" of "Here Come the Nice," and an alternate mix of "Green Circles." Most of this is collector ephemera but the mono mix is indeed appealingly punchy and perhaps a better way to listen to this music.] AMG.

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Space Opera - Space Opera 1972

While only the most academic of fans might remember Space Opera, the Texas-based quartet's self-titled debut certainly demands significantly more attention than it initially garnered upon its 1973 release. Because the album was both recorded and first issued in Canada, many assumed that Brett Wilson (drums, percussion), Philip White (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), Scott Fraser (guitar, keyboards,vocals), and David Bullock (guitar, flute, harmonica, vocals) hailed from the Great White North. However, Space Opera's synthesis of pop, rock, country, folk, jazz, and even classical builds on a uniquely American tradition. Although Space Opera was already headlining major music festivals by 1969, the combo took its time in crafting the ten selections for this long-player. Comparisons to the Byrds or the earliest sides by the Eagles are well founded. In fact, "Holy River" could easily be mistaken for a post-Notorious Byrd Brothers cut -- especially the warm and reedy timbre of Fraser's lead vocals. Conversely, they could let loose and unleash monster jams, such as the intricate and progressive "Guitar Suite" -- featuring no less than seven separate overdubs from Fraser and Bullock. Rather than coming off like an aimless Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers noodle, their interplay has the precision of Steve Howe, or Frank Zappa at times. The aggressive electric numbers are contrasted by the lilting and organic "Riddle," showcasing Fraser, Bullock, and White's expressive three-part harmonies. "Over and Over" is another standout, with a folk-infused vibe that glides beneath the flowing and rhythmic waltz. Bullock's electric 12-string guitar shimmers with exquisite yet penetrating beauty. In 2004, Collectors' Choice Music finally brought this masterpiece to CD, and hopefully also to new audiences.

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Graham Bond - Holy Magick 1970

Graham Bond was getting more into "magick" in his private life at the beginning of the 1970s, and those interests are heavily reflected in this album. That's particularly true of the side-long medley that occupies the first half of the LP, with its attempts to musically re-create rituals. The problem was a mundane one afflicting many ambitious concept albums of the era: The music wasn't as interesting as the concept. It was meandering, sometimes improvised-sounding blues-jazz-soul-rock, featuring Bond's distinctive organ, female soul backup vocals, and John Gross' tenor sax. The irony was that it actually didn't sound as sinister as Bond's more demonic recordings in the mid-'60s as leader of the Graham Bond Organisation, even though those earlier recordings had no explicit magickal references in the lyrics. Nor was it nearly as effective or memorable as the voodoo rock of early Dr. John, an unavoidable comparison as far as the mood for which Bond seemed to be aiming. For side two, Bond returned, nominally at least, to a more conventional song-oriented format, presenting four songs on as many tracks, though with a similar lyrical focus. These pieces weren't too different from the other side, however, though there was a bit more of a funky, earthy blues feel. The album was combined with the 1971 Bond LP We Put Our Magick on You on a single-disc CD reissue on BGO. AMG.

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Roxy Music - Roxy Music 1972

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art-rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination -- Brian Eno's synthesized "treatments" exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera's guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay's saxophone subverts rock & roll clichés by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it's the free-form, structure-bending "Re-Make/Re-Model" or the sleek glam of "Virginia Plain," the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s. AMG.
 

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Donovan - In Concert 1968

Finally. This 1967 concert recorded at the Anaheim Convention Center, just a few weeks after his Hollywood Bowl show, was recorded in its entirety and released as a single LP with a total of 14 tracks. This double-disc CD reissue contains 23 tracks, and is, as it survives, the entire gig. In addition, the sound has been painstakingly remastered; the result is a brilliant-sounding document. Flow in a Donovan concert is important, and here, presented as it occurred, listeners can drift right into the tidepool of magic. The band is a quintet with Harold McNair on flute and saxophones, Loren Newkirk on piano, Andy Tronosco on upright bass, Tony Carr on drums, and John Carr on bongos. Donovan plays acoustic guitar throughout. The hippy mysticism and flower power poets are everywhere here. This isn't rock star excess at all, but an organic, drenched-in-sunshine concert full of gentleness with a premium on good vibes. Tunes not on the original LP and CD issues include "Sunny Goodge Street," "Epistle to Derroll," "Sand and Foam," "Hampstead Incident," "To Try for the Sun," "Someone Singing," "The Tinker and the Crab," and a partial recording of the second half of "Catch the Wind," which was included for purposes of completion, but was marred by a malfunctioning tape recording. Donovan was already an expert at getting audiences to eat out of his hand, and here that happens in spades. In fact, the only album that comes close to having the flow of this concert was the studio recording of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. While it's true this is only available as an import, it should be sought out by any fan, or, for that matter, any cynic who hasn't heard this particularly beautiful and airy genius of Donovan Leitch. With this presentation, Donovan In Concert becomes one of the great live albums of the '60s. AMG.

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Holger Czukay - Movies 1979

Holger Czukay's first post-Can solo album finds the bass player exploring prog rock jams with varied instrumentation, song-oriented lyrics, and media samples from film, television, and short-wave. It was the samples that put Czukay in the same category as David Byrne and Brian Eno: an art rocker exploring the early days concurrently with early hip-hop pioneers (or alternately, a white man exploiting the culture of the third world, depending on who you read). On "Persian Love," Czukay backs up clips of an Iranian singer recorded off the short-wave with lilting guitar and keyboard riffs that sparkle like light. The album is all pleasant, playful textures, with little of the darkness that Can dealt with. AMG.

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