Album Thoughts
Another antiques mall find - the album art is a delight, and I honestly dearly love the entire aesthetic.
Song Notes
East River
- Big and bombastic. A wonderful example of Big Music!
- The absolute blast of the horns and blaring guitar is so powerful.
- It makes me want to dance and kick and groove.
- The solo is so clear and simple and it soars before we plunge back into the heavy Easy River…
Inside Out
- Low rolling bass with the organ is a great start.
- Is… is this a guitar distorted into a horn sound, or is it a horn that sounds like a damned guitar? Holy shit it’s cool.
Skunk Funk
- Frantic, manic, and some wild melodic progression. This is some jazz fusion.
- I see why this would be called Heavy Metal.
- It’s crazy to me that these are mostly live performances.
Sponge
- So blorpy!
- OH, the CHORDS. They’re going so crazy with the chromaticism, but it’s still so structured!
- East River is powerful, but I think this one might be my favorite of the album. It’d take a real fuckin’ haymaker to knock this one out.
Funky Sea, Funky Dew
- It starts so smooth and then goes sideways.
- There are sounds here that I didn’t know could come from a saxophone, but I can’t imagine coming out of anything else either.
Squids
- Dissonant and floaty, it feels like a good name for the song.
- The way it grows to a climax about two thirds of the way through is really, really cool.
General Thoughts
- These fuckers know how to use a horn section, hot damn.
- The energy of the venues these were recorded in must have been crazy.
- What a kick in the ass. Way up there as far as favorite jazz music I’ve ever heard, right near Sonicwonderland - Hiromi.