Sun City Girls - Superculto
(Abduction)
The Sun City Girls, rather than re-releasing some of their vast
out-of-print back catalog, are releasing a series of live recordings
in the Carnival Folklore Resurrection series. This is volume 3 of the
series, a live performance from September, 1997.
Unlike some of the other Sun City Girls releases, this is a more
mellow example of their improvisatory genre-bending. Largely
percussion-oriented, this recored truly showcases Charles Gocher's
drumming. The Bishop brothers presumably are also playing percussion
on "Echo by Association" and the lovely "Mopti Ghetto Still" (which
has quiet, Arnold Dreyblatt-esque string plucking).
The mellow hippie vibe is quickly destroyed on "Now Playing," placed
in the middle of this CD surely to wake up any careless listener who possibly
drifted to sleep. A loud crashing rock intro opens up this piece,
which still fits into the feel of the record.
The strange clattering percussion comes back soon after, and the last
few tracks even drift into jazz territory. "The Gospel According to
Philly Jo Jones" is a longer piece where Gocher is totally fluid and
the Bishop brothers (I think) fade in and out of the mix on
saxophones. The lack of instrumentation credits leaves it a bit up in
the air as to who is doing what, but the music speaks pretty well.
"DJEME EL FNA, USA" is the Sun City Girls at their craziest--yodeling
and banging on drums, working up a pseudo-tribal rhythm that
is unfortunately too short.
The fidelity of this recording is pretty low, but for a live
recording it actually works well. The Sun City Girls sound like
ghosts here, with their weird music drifting quietly in the air.
It's pretty effective on this set, though I have to wonder how a more
rocking set would sound if it was recorded the same way. I have
heard that there will be either 12 or 150 released in the Carnival
Folklore Resurrection series--either way it will surely document the many sides
of this most remarkable band.
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