8.22.2006

The 60's perfected the art of the jam; an improvisational concept that gave birth to many of the finer moments in this decade of rock music and unfortunately to some of the more cliche moments in later years. Nonetheless some bands not only embraced this quality, they built their entire sound on it; loosening the boundries of what was considered pop music and ushering in a whole host of ideas from prog to noise.

Hapshash and The Coloured Coat - Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids
Hapshash was a collective of artists at first more renown for their contributions to psychedelic poster art than for their musical contributions. Two art students
teamed up with one DJ to record an entire record of freakout style 60's mayhem that turned out to have some glittering moments in amongst the squall. Guy Stevens, the DJ in question went on to be a producer for Island Records with his work for the band Art. Following his leave the band released a far less extreme record with the help of some other musicians in the scene; Ken Kesey even contributed bass to a later 1969 single. The band dissolved around this time. The Hapshash name still remains synonymous with their poster work. The shorter titles weren't as characteristic of their abilities but the album closer "Empires of the Sun" is an amazing testament to the 60's freakout.
Download:
[MP3] Hapshash and the Coloured Coat - H-O-P-P Why?
[MP3] Hapshash and the Coloured Coat - A Mind Blown is a Mind Shown
Buy Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

Gong - You
Gong, the brainchild of Australian guitarist Daevid Allen seemed to feature hundreds of musicians. This communal feeling was evident in their lyrical world of inside jokes. You is the third in a series of albums referred to as the Radion
Gnome Invisible series and was pretty much the last album that Allen took an active part in before leaving the group. Gong's sound centered abound an ability to fuse Piper at the Gates of dawn lyricism with a jazz-rock fusion and an incredibly off the cuff feeling. The album features three long jam type pieces that anchor some of the lighter tracks. The insanely spaced out "You'll Never Blow Your Trip Forever" and "Master Builder" serve as epic counterpoints to Allen's quirky lyrical jaunts on the shorter pieces. Allen had a way of evoking Syd Barrett if he had played with Miles Davis during the Bitches Brew period. A delightful thing indeed.
Download:
[MP3] Gong - Master Builder
[MP3] Gong - Perfect Mystery
Buy Gong
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posted by dissensous at 12:27:00 PM

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

ummm ... yeah, Daevid did rejoin Gong afterwards and has since produced even more interesting albums, anyone who reads this post should definitely invest in buying ANY AND ALL Gong albums they come across since they are a rare find. . . especially their latest album The Acid Motherhood. I have been a fan of their psychedelic sound for quite some time and will be seeing them in Amsterdam later this year, definitely worth your time and money!

9:08 AM  
Blogger dissensous said...

Yes Daevid did reform Gong and your absolutely correct the Acid Motherhood album is an incredible piece of work. I usually consider later Gong albums after his departure and reformation to me be a whole new idea. Still unmistakeably Gong but at the same time something entirely new.

2:04 PM  

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