Search - Ceyleib People :: Tanyet

On Second Thought (And Listening):

Stephen M. Amy | Portland, OR United States | 01/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please delete above review posted by myself(Stephen Amy). Having my wits more about me and giving this recording more listenings, I unabashedly give it highest rating (5 stars). What is going on is rock and/or blues rhythm and counterpoint to that provided by woodwinds, strings (inc. sitar). Kind of the earthy rhythm vs. the ethereal muse (it works!). Buy this CD. And it is time that I rate CDs when in a non-compromised state."

Curio only for the chemically altered

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 10/12/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Ry Cooder's slide guitar stands out among a blur of half-baked Eastern excursions in this memento from circa 1968, when L.A. musicians sought to record a jam--the actual recording is only 21 minutes, with each song cycle taking about 10 minutes. Not much value even for what an l.p. went for back then; the CD import from Drop Out Records/Demon (British label) doubles the length with "reprocessed" versions of both entries. Dubious as this all sounds for the consumer, at least the re-made attempts clean up the noticeably muddy mix, for if this is "stereo" as labelled on the cover sticker, then why did I check my balance on the first "original" track? It was set in the middle, but the recording sounds very lopsided towards the left channel. This lurching quality may, on the other hand, fit this wobbly project.



The first section definitely is the weaker; halfway through what feels--better or worse--longer than 10 minutes is a hippy chant distorted with what sounds like the mastermind of this project, one Michael Sean Deasy's name warbled. The acid-meets-treacle nature of this stage in the album is matched by the earnestly silly liner notes of some sub-Tolkien Tom Bombadil effusions. Cooder's guitar does resurrect what's worthwhile, however. The second "suite" coheres better, and actually picks up a groove for more than a few seconds at a time. This album stumbles from one section to the next within the two "songs," and would have been far more impressive if the musicians had taken their jams and built upon them more meditatively.



Foreshadowings of a very early Little Feat/Lowell George shamble, blended with a splash of '68 Beefheart, again probably from Cooder, do salvage these tracks up to three stars. If you're looking for Indian-raga rock, as I was when buying this album, then you'll be disappointed by its slapdash nature. If you like Cooder and the ambiance that here peeps out of the early 70's eclecticism of some of the L.A.-based artists on Warner Bros, then you might want this if you're a completist."