A=MH2

Chronique

Psychedelic raga-rock guitar-dominated instrumentals can be a gas -- just listen to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's "East-West" or the Mystic Tide's "Psychedelic Journey," or even some of Robbie Krieger's solos on long Doors tracks. It can also be a bore, as demonstrated by this 49-minute rarity, comprised of five long, doodling Indian-blues-fusion instrumentals, though some vocal chanting is heard. It might be a cliché when complaining about such albums to whine that it only sounds good if you're stoned, but that axiom does seem to apply to these pieces, any one of which grows tiresome, the effect multiplied when five of them are strung together. Sure, there's some skill applied by the players, who are reasonably nimble, using throbbing Indian-influenced tempos as the backdrop. They're songs and musicians in need of some kind of structure, however, and the incessant high-pierced pitches of the guitar become grating. The results are not so much far-out as they are the sort of thing you might hear blasting away for a minute or two at a time in the background of drug orgies in some low-rent psychsploitation flicks.

© Richie Unterberger /TiVo