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As a musician who has passionately advocated for American roots music since the Blasters released their first album in 1980, Dave Alvin is widely regarded as a traditionalist, which is not as accurate as it would seem at first glance. Alvin grew up on free jazz, psychedelia, and hard rock along with the blues, rockabilly, country, and jump jazz sounds that inform his best-known work, and his project the Third Mind is a step outside his usual boundaries that lets him explore ideas he hasn't approached in the past. Alvin was inspired by reading a book on Miles Davis that outlined his methods for composing and recording several of his major fusion albums of the '70s: Miles would call out a key, set a tempo, and he and his band would improvise at length. After the fact, he and his producer would edit the long jams into a more practical shape. Alvin assembled a set of versatile players to try something similar -- David Immerglück on guitar and keyboards, Victor Krummenacher on bass, Michael Jerome on drums, and Jesse Sykes on guitar and vocals -- though for most of the Third Mind's debut album, they gave themselves a safety net that Miles didn't. Except for one original piece, "Claudia Cardinale," Alvin and his accompanists play covers, which gives them some sort of road map to follow, but otherwise the band dove into these songs without prior rehearsal, letting the feel of the moment dictate the arrangements. If anyone was expecting that this would be the album where Alvin would remake himself into an avant-garde noise artist, they get shut down pretty quickly; however, while it's not hard to recognize the rudiments of his guitar style in these jams, he does take the opportunity to stretch out and explore the space around him in a way that's fresh and challenging. There's a folky simplicity in these versions of Fred Neil's "Dolphins" and Tim Rose's "Morning Dew," but they don't sound simple or unimaginative, and when the group dig deeper into Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda" and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's "East/West," the communication between the players is smart and exciting. (Whether you actually need three different versions of "East/West," the shortest of which is 14 minutes, is an open question, but each one here is honestly engaging.) Alvin's roots in the blues certainly play a big role in The Third Mind, but so does hard rock, psychedelia, jazz, and improvisational music, and this context -- essentially a jam band without audibly hippie-like tendencies -- shows that his willingness to take a risk pays off handsomely.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
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Alice Coltrane, Composer - JOWCOL Music BMI, MusicPublisher - The Third Mind, MainArtist
2020 Yep Roc Records 1970 Jowcol Music BMI
Fred Neil, Composer - The Third Mind, MainArtist - Third Story Music - BMI, MusicPublisher
2020 Yep Roc Records 1966 Third Story Music - BMI
Victor Krummenacher, Composer - Dave Alvin, Composer - David Immergluck, Composer - Michael Jerome, Composer - Bumps Of Goose (BMI), MusicPublisher - The Third Mind, MainArtist - Bindi Boy Music (BMI), MusicPublisher - Blue Horn Toad Music / BMG (BMI), MusicPublisher - MM Jerome (ASCAP), MusicPublisher
2020 Yep Roc Records 2020 BLUE HORN TOAD MUSIC/BMG (BMI)/BINDI BOY MUSIC (BMI)/BUMPS OF GOOSE (BMI)/MM JEROME (ASCAP)
Tim Rose, Composer - Bonnie Dobson, Composer - The Third Mind, MainArtist - Warner-Tamerlane Music Publishing Corp. (SOCAN/BMI), MusicPublisher
2020 Yep Roc Records 1964 Warner-Tamerlane Music Publishing Corp. SOCAN BMI
Nicholas George Gravenites, Composer - The Third Mind, MainArtist - Milkman Chivalree Inc. / Pencil Man Music / Warner-Tamerlane Music Publishing Corp. (BMI), MusicPublisher - Milkman Chivalree Inc./Pencil Man Music - Warner Tamerlane Music Publishing Corp. BMI, MusicPublisher - Mark H Naftalin, Composer
2020 Yep Roc Records 1966 Milkman Chivalree Inc./Pencil Man Music - Warner Tamerlane Music Publishing Corp. BMI
James Thomas Hall, Composer - The Third Mind, MainArtist - Roger Kynard Erickson, Composer - Tapier Music ASCAP/BMI, MusicPublisher - Stac Sutherland, Composer
2020 Yep Roc Records 1966 Tapier Music ASCAP/BMI
Album review
As a musician who has passionately advocated for American roots music since the Blasters released their first album in 1980, Dave Alvin is widely regarded as a traditionalist, which is not as accurate as it would seem at first glance. Alvin grew up on free jazz, psychedelia, and hard rock along with the blues, rockabilly, country, and jump jazz sounds that inform his best-known work, and his project the Third Mind is a step outside his usual boundaries that lets him explore ideas he hasn't approached in the past. Alvin was inspired by reading a book on Miles Davis that outlined his methods for composing and recording several of his major fusion albums of the '70s: Miles would call out a key, set a tempo, and he and his band would improvise at length. After the fact, he and his producer would edit the long jams into a more practical shape. Alvin assembled a set of versatile players to try something similar -- David Immerglück on guitar and keyboards, Victor Krummenacher on bass, Michael Jerome on drums, and Jesse Sykes on guitar and vocals -- though for most of the Third Mind's debut album, they gave themselves a safety net that Miles didn't. Except for one original piece, "Claudia Cardinale," Alvin and his accompanists play covers, which gives them some sort of road map to follow, but otherwise the band dove into these songs without prior rehearsal, letting the feel of the moment dictate the arrangements. If anyone was expecting that this would be the album where Alvin would remake himself into an avant-garde noise artist, they get shut down pretty quickly; however, while it's not hard to recognize the rudiments of his guitar style in these jams, he does take the opportunity to stretch out and explore the space around him in a way that's fresh and challenging. There's a folky simplicity in these versions of Fred Neil's "Dolphins" and Tim Rose's "Morning Dew," but they don't sound simple or unimaginative, and when the group dig deeper into Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda" and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's "East/West," the communication between the players is smart and exciting. (Whether you actually need three different versions of "East/West," the shortest of which is 14 minutes, is an open question, but each one here is honestly engaging.) Alvin's roots in the blues certainly play a big role in The Third Mind, but so does hard rock, psychedelia, jazz, and improvisational music, and this context -- essentially a jam band without audibly hippie-like tendencies -- shows that his willingness to take a risk pays off handsomely.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 6 track(s)
- Total length: 00:43:44
- Main artists: The Third Mind
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Yep Roc Records
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
2020 Yep Roc Records 2020 Yep Roc Records
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