Mushroom - Glazed Popems
(Black Beauty)
The Mushroom's 10th album—a double CD at affordable single-disk prices!—opens with the smooth and mellow "L'Auberge." Glazed Popems proceeds apace to the more experimental "Pink Island," featuring an avant-guitar solo (from Erik Pearson) that slices through the brain likes shards of glass. The woodwinds (Ralph Carney), congas (Pat Thomas), various Eastern percussives (Dave Mihaly), and celeste, melodica, and vibes (courtesy of newcomer Matt Henry Cunitz's vintage '60's Mellotron) on "(Hats Off To) Bert Jansch" place you in the middle of Hyde Park, ca. 1968, or at the early Glastonbury fests a few years later. The track is an obvious reference to the similarly titled tribute to Roy Harper on Led Zeppelin III and is perfect for freaking at the folk freaker's ball, although only the hardcore Jansch fanatic will hear any of Bert's melodies lingering within. It's all about the mood, dude!
"Isle of Wight," a tribute to the site of Britain's Woodstock, features synth swashes from ex-Loud Family keyboardist Alison Faith Levy, although fans of her Sonoptic project will also recognize her soft and fluidly uninhibited ruminations. The grooves are perfect for sitting cross-legged in a big, open field, staring at the clouds and having a heart-to-heart with a hookah-smoking caterpillar. Most of the Mushroom regulars sit this one out, Pearson trades his guitar for the flute and tenor sax, and guests Dan Olmsted (acoustic guitar) and Monica Pasqual (piano) pick up the slack. But if, like me, you occasionally dig out your well-worn copy of 1971's Glastonbury Fair Revelations 3LP and enjoy groovin' to the sounds of Mighty Baby's "A Blanket in My Mousli," then this will be right up your pink half of the bongpipe.
The guitar/piano duet between Pearson and newcomer Brian Felix on "Two of Us," ... er, "You and I Have Memories, Longer Than The Road that Stretches out Ahead" (I kid you not!), is as ponderous as it is melodically beautiful (think of the Penguin Café Orchestra's more accessible efforts), providing the requisite tug on the heartstrings that all precious memories instill. And if you've ever had a "Half Sicilian/Half Welsh" pizza, then this tasty tribal stomp will be (musically) repeating on you for days. Will that be for here or to go? Things fizzle somewhat with "Just Because Nobody Understands You, That Doesn't Mean You're An Artist," a silly homage to Jefferson Airplane's "A Small Package of Value Will Come To You Shortly," but quickly recover on the pleasant woodwind rendition of "Backwaterside," which is essentially a Katharine Starzel solo piece. This short finale wraps up one of the year's finest releases with another nod in the general direction of Sir Bert. A genuine heroic effort and the missing link between the psychedelic experimentation of After Bathing at Baxters and the communal hippie love-fest of The 5000 Spirits, or The Layers of The Onion.
But wait! There's more! A second disk, titled Oakland, opens with "The Beards are Back in Town," a jazz/funk/fusion monster that, with all due respect to Thin Lizzy, is the most effective statement of purpose that any band has offered to date. It's also a welcome return to this reviewer's good graces after several adequate, but ultimately disappointing Mushroom releases. Halfway through this 111/2 minute epic, the tide turns to a reflective, rather proggy vibe, highlighted by Pat Thomas' syncopated backbeat, Erik Pearson's snaking, well, "snake guitar," and a lilting flute wafting through the room courtesy of Ralph Carney, whose tasty sax work drifts through the opening half of the track as well.
The short, playful "Tin Foil Hat," featuring the frolicking interplay between Cunitz's gurgling Hammond and Brian Felix's electric piano, is as lightweight and comical as its title suggests. As is the equally short avant-garde minijam "This Goes Squonk!," which illustrates that the band hasn't lost its sense of humor and should certainly appeal to fans of the Chicago post-rock and "alt" jazz of Tortoise, the Chicago Underground Duo/Trio/etc or maybe even Joan of Arc. A wonderful duet between Felix's piano and Michael Rinta's horns (trombone, tuba, bass trumpet) highlights the romantic "Blues for Bobby Seale," as perfect a rainy day dreamaway as you're likely to hear all year. In fact, as I write this review, I'm staring across my backyard through another of this summer's torrential downpours, and listening to Rinta's weeping trombone is bringing a hint of sunshine into an otherwise gloomy day.
Alison Faith Levy returns with synths and wordless vocals (or at least barely recognizable ones) on the title track, adding a hint of '60s nostalgia to the disk's poppiest track, which would make a nice introductory single to the set. The titular puns continue on "Tonite Let's All Make Love in Oakland," a warm, juicy invitation from the spider to the fly (courtesy Pearson's honey-dripping flute) to come hither, honey, and check out my space-age bachelor web. One good pun deserves another, so let's just praise Pearson as he switches to syrupy tenor sax in the finest Gato Barbieri tradition (cf. his Last Tango in Paris soundtrack). The move allows Tim Plowman to pick up his double-tracked guitar for some, uh, tasty licks sure to offset the premature ... urges on this elongated sex groove that may soon be coming... er, appearing in a porno film near you. And let's not overlook Felix's organ, which flows freely throughout—the glue that holds the whole enchilada together.
Finally, we can't overlook the walking, talking, funky jazz of Carney's saxes and Cunitz's swirling, Leslie-d Hammond and Baldwin harpsichord on closer "Running Wild and Looking Pretty," which reminds me favorably of Quincy Jones' seminal '60s and '70s soundtrack work on The Hot Rock and $ through TV's "Sanford & Son" and "The Mod Squad." Oh, and did I mention those typically mouthwatering, drop-dead gorgeous, nude models spread across, er, adorning the cover, booklet, disks and gatefold?
Perhaps Mushroom's most cohesive release, Glazed Popems features the tightest personnel with which drummer/producer/leader and sole constant member Pat Thomas has ever worked. The refreshing breath of cool, smooth jazz coupled with occasionally soft proggy vibes on the "Oakland" disk and the psychedelically tinged, slightly purpled haze of acid folk on the "London" disk combine to deliver one of the best releases of the year.
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