A particularly ramshackle album from a particularly ramshackle folk band (not necessarily a bad thing; not necessarily a good one either; and The Incredible String Band often managed to exemplify both points almost simultaneously), gathering tunes and tapes that had been left on the shelf, and assembling a bunch of them in a large collage - "The song has no ending", which, not quite, but, as far as these things go, at 26 minutes or so, no one can accuse them of not giving it a go; although it never really goes from being a collection of musical moments (some better, some worse) to achieving any sort of musical gestalt. The purpose of it all? To soundtrack an obscure film about themselves, which I have never seen, but assume must have involved a lot of rolling around in mud before being ready for their close-up, and just be one of the oddest vanity projects ever (I do like the title, though).
In any case, at this tipping point in their career, looking backwards was probably a wiser move than going forward, considering the sorry shots at folk-rock commercialism that were to come, whose only merit was to make us better appreciate the inspired sloppiness of yore. Proving that point, while the album seems to consist mostly of background music (which, again, was still a step up from being actively bad) for hippie encampments in the woods (which can have their momentary charm - until you confront yourself with the 'bathroom' situation), they do still manage to recuperate one of those unlikely gems, "Vishangro", from when, who knows through what wild mushroom concoction that miraculously didn't kill them all, they would start off rambling about some dumb thing on the guitar, only to end up with a transcendental tale of transmigration that streams along like a wandering soul.
In the end, it really was a matter of getting it while it lasts; and all in all, it's a good thing they did.
No comments:
Post a Comment