October 2010: "Terrascope"'s journalists Ian Fraser and Phil McMullen write some albums reviews. Among them, about the new Mushroom's record, “Naked, Stoned and Stabbed”, they state (http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Rumbles_October_2010.htm):
"Staying on the West Coast of America but in a very different jar of tadpoles, Mushroom is a musicians’ collective from the San Francisco Bay Area whose membership includes the likes of Josh Pollock and Erik Pearson, who may be familiar to fans of Gong through their various collaborations with Daevid Allen. “Naked, Stoned and Stabbed” (4Zero Records) is a mostly acoustic and ambient affair, blending both Western and Eastern hemisphere influences with a strange assortment of instrumentation including Latin and African percussion, sitar, celesta and vibraharp. The impressive roster of contributing artistes and the odd and varied instruments made this one of the most eagerly anticipated of this month’s batch of Rumbles and, by and large, it doesn’t disappoint. The opening number “Infatuation” sits us squarely around the hippie camp fire from which comforting flames we never really move too far. “Jerry Rubin: He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother” sounds like the Third Ear Band (no bad thing as far as these two ears are concerned) and is the best of the first few songs here. The mood becomes more upbeat five tracks in with the straight out of a “spirit of ‘69” freak jam known as “Take Off Your Face and Recover From That Trip You’ve Been On” with Hammond-like keyboards and psychedelic guitar from the Melton/Kaukonan handbook, while the Afro-Latin percussion lends it a Santana at Woodstock feel. This is one of the outstanding tracks here together with the lengthy eastern improvisation, “Tariq Ali”, the spectral, slightly jazzy “Indulgence” and the only vocal track and the one that closes proceedings, a fine take on Kevin Ayers’ “Singing A Song In The Morning” which even features a narrative vocal in the style of Kevin’s “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes” and could easily be the man himself. Aside from these choice cuts, “Naked, Stoned and Stabbed” is an intriguing and enjoyable enough collection of tunes, and picks up an extra mark for some oddball song names the length of Tyrannosaurus Rex LP titles. Quite what guitarist Sean Smith (see July Rumbles) thinks of the hopefully affectionate “tribute” to him on track 4 would be interesting to know. If you’re reading this Sean, why not drop us a line let us know. There must be a story in there somewhere".
Maybe I'm becoming old and dull, but listening to the track I don't feel any convincing reference to the TEB's sound, apart the playing of some instruments (tablas, violin) and a blurry idea of free-form music...
Anyway, which is the best proof that listening the tune by yourself ?
You can download the full (very beautiful!) album at the Plixid.com site:
or listen/download just the track at: http://snd.sc/Wphdxo
Then, if you like it, let me know what do you think about...
no©2013 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)
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