Treacherous Beauty

The Sinuous Music
Of Joe Henry
Friday, March 27, 2009

Critically acclaimed and unpredictable, Joe Henry's evocative music has proven difficult to pigeonhole. Although rooted in 'alt-country,' his extremely intelligent songwriting took a sharp turn midway through his career to veer into a heady amalgamation of folk, country, rock, funk, soul, with a heavy infusion of jazz. In doing so, he frequently succeeded in finding the undiscovered space that hangs between them, and it's specifically what he mines in that very gray area that makes his material so powerful and compelling.

After three albums that served as the necessary stepping stones to finding a voice for himself (with help from Anton Fier, T-Bone Burnett, and Mick Taylor), Henry's fourth and fifth ('Short Man's Room,' and 'Kindness Of The World'), landed him squarely in the alt-country bag that was at its peak during the 90's. Though many others participated in that crowded arena, Henry wisely tapped the best of those practitioners to become his backup band, the glorious, Jayhawks. Henry's lazy, nicotine stained drawl of a vocal style blended perfectly with the principles of his studio compatriots, creating a rich tapestry of sound, and recordings that stood head and shoulders above his peers. But it was the brilliance of his songwriting that truly set him apart from the pack. Then came the surprising sea change that moved him into new, and uncharted territories. First came 'Trampoline,' a tectonic shift that brought an edgier, atmospheric sound to his repertoire, largely fueled by his recruitment of Helmet's, Page Hamilton to add a sonic richness. But additionally, his always literate lyrics reached a level of maturation with facinating character sketches that read more like concise, short stories than conventional song forms. 'Fuse' followed and expanded the palette of colors he was now incorporating, which two years later resulted in his undisputed masterpiece, the exquisite, 'Scar.'

In an especially eloquent review for the All Music Guide, reviewer, Thom Jurek had this to say about the recording, "For the last five years, Joe Henry has gradually taken his songwriting into hidden areas, exploring the different textures of shadow, with occasional forays into the twilight of the human heart. Longing has been painted upon the smoky backdrop of every song he's written. His protagonists have been mixtures of Oliver Gant from Thomas Wolfe, the man whose passion was just beyond his reach, never quenching his thirst, to working cats that Raymond Carver has illustrated well, men who've noticed the lack in their soul cavities when it comes to love, often realizing too late that it, and it alone, is the only thing humans have. And Henry, despite the increasing psychological and emotional depth of his lyrical character studies, and the increasingly angular method of his storytelling, has always been able to put these varying literary tropes into love songs that register without a lot of fuss. They tell it, though it doesn't really matter exactly what, because the person who needs to hear them does. On 'Scar,' his eighth album, Henry follows his other obsession down the rabbit hole --- the myriad ways in which sound and texture can become musical instruments themselves in order to paint a song properly.  

'Scar,' his highly textured sonic meditation on love and its twisted redemptive power, features a list of highly visible musicians that help make this the album Henry's been trying to make his entire adult life. One which allows his music to finish the story his lyrics sketch out. With the help of producer Craig Street, Henry moves the bell further down the wire of soulful yet accessible pop music."

'Scar' opens with the moody reflection of 'Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation,' a mournful piece, augmented by contributor, Ornette Coleman and his appropriately seductive playing. Again, Thom Jurek waxes on the number saying, "(It) slips its smoky way into being with a whining guitar by Marc Ribot, a vibraphone by Brian Blade, and Henry declaring: 'Sometimes I think I've almost fooled myself/Spreading out my wings above us like a tree/Laughing now out loud/Almost like I was free/I look at you as the thing I wanted most/You look at me and it's like you see a ghost/I wear the face all of this has cost/Everything you tried to keep away from me/Everything I took from you and lost.' It's a blues tune, where steel guitar is trumped by Ornette's alto blowing his deepest soul-blues. Henry thins the lyric yet digs its knife in deeper, and by the tune's nadir, the protagonist has shrunk to the vanishing point, and disappears in a wisp of smoke." With further help from pianist, Brad Mehldau, Henry manages to create a triumphant sonic universe on 'Scar' for himself, and his newfound jazz friends to both explore and express themselves in with sterling results.

With one last quote, Jurek sums it up --- "The final track, the album's namesake, is an opus at 14:21. Lyrically it's as direct as anything Henry's ever written, but it's an entire film score rolled into one love song. It's poetry too genuine, so metaphorical and rich in imagery, that it would be a disservice to quote from it. It is the most beautiful of the many beautiful songs Henry has written. Texturally, everything but a clarinet line paints the landscape as an early New Orleans Sunday, and the acoustic guitars are buried in a slow, rhythmic mix. Here, Henry takes his cinematic vision and lets it illustrate brokenness and determination, celebrating them both as being as good as it gets, and that's plenty fine. The fact that after the songs fades it becomes a backdrop for Coleman to blow is just fine; he lays out the soul and blues in his horn in the void. 'Scar,' with its rich poetic tapestries and complex musical and atmospheric architectures, is Henry's highest achievement thus far. He has moved into a space that only he and Tom Waits inhabit in that they are songwriters who have created deep archetypal characters that are composites -- metaphorical, allegorical, and "real" -- of the world around them."

With the release of 'Tiny Voices,' his next recorded excursion, Henry took things even deeper into the heart of stylistic convergence. The musical architecture here turned downright Felliniesque. Aided by contributors, Don Byron, Ron Miles, Dave Palmer, and others from the neu-jazz field, they navigated through a steamy and sinuous, vine strangled jungle floor of sonic textures, far from the familiar shores of home. Dark and claustrophobic, 'Tiny Voices' picked up where 'Scar' left off, but traveled further inward, leaving the listener to scratch their head and wonder, "So just what do you call this? Jazz? Rock? Folk? Country? Pop?" What it is, plain and simple, is music. But music like no other. Different as it is however, it's not inacessible, not in the least. It's simply highly original and compelling music that holds within it the power to renew one's faith in the future of this thing we call 'pop' music. A bold assessment, but one that I stand by.

With 'Civilians,' its follow-up, Henry brought things back down to a manageable scale that assured those long bewildered by their inability to label him that he was at heart, simply a damn fine songwriter. A songwriter capable of penning some of the most affecting material this side of the aforementioned Waits, and a small handful of others.
 
The sets below serve to showcase the scope of Henry's songwriting from his beginnings with 'Talk Of Heaven,' through his most recent, 'Civilians' which is represented in the video below, performing his gorgeous, 'God Only Knows.' Two sets, two different sounds, all from the songbook of Joe Henry.* It's wondrous and spellbinding music. 

*Except 'I Flew Over Our House Last Night' which was written by Tom T. Hall

Treacherous Beauty: Before The Change

1.) Dewey Wins
2.) Hurricane, W. VA
3.) Dance Lesson
4.) Date For Church
5.) John Hanging
6.) Drowning In The River
7.) Charlesvoix
8.) Right About Linden
9.) King's Highway
10.) Short Man's Room
11.) Stations
12.) The Diving Bell
13.) Last One Out
14.) Fireman's Wedding
15.) I Flew Over Our House Last Night
16.) Second Story

 
Source material for 'Treacherous Beauty: Before The Change' comes from the following recordings:
 
Talk Of Heaven (1986)/Murder Of Crows (1989)/Shuffletown (1990)
Short Man's Room (1992)/Kindness Of The World (1993)



Treacherous Beauty: After The Change

1.) Bob & Ray
2.) Let Me Have It All
3.) Ohio Air Show Plane Crash
4.) Parade
5.) Monkey
6.) Angels
7.) Fuse
8.) Skin And Teeth
9.) Want Too Much
10.) Curt Flood
11.) Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation
12.) Stop
13.) Mean Flower
14.) Struck
15.) Rough And Tumble
16.) Cold Enough To Cross
17.) This Afternoon
18.) Animal Skin


Source material for 'Treacherous Beauty: After The Change' comes from the following recordings:
 
Trampoline (1996)/Fuse (1999)/Scar (2001/Tiny Voices (2003)

Note: 'Treacherous Beauty' contains a generous helping of Joe's music. It's intended strictly as a sampler, and as an introduction to his art. Henry is a practicing musician whose legacy has not yet been sealed in the annuls of pop music, and whose recordings do not sell in the millions like those of his sister-in-law, Madonna, or many of the other musicians who are featured in these pages. I urge you to legitimately purchase any of his full length recordings that become of interest to you by way of this showcase. Please support his art (and those of other working musicians) so that he (and they) can continue to produce such mesmerizing music. You'll be duly rewarded. If not in this lifetime, certainly the in the next. It's your karma.

TR-i (The Rundgren-index) No.#5

Todd: Goofball, Magician, Madhatter
No.# 5 in a series
Friday, March 20, 2009

Techno nerd and computer geek that he is, it should come as no surprise that Todd Rundgren has always had a goofy side, one that he not only acknowledges, but freely showcases from time to time. Actually, it's more than time to time when I really stop to think about it, as it's an integral, not to mention charming part of his personality. His oddball sense of humor runs throughout his entire catalog, coming in many forms, from satire and comic relief, to quirkiness and downright silly behavior. There's also a generous helping of left of center arrangements and unexpected sounds that liberally populate the proceedings. Although it's not the sophisticated humor of Randy Newman, or the campy parody of someone like 'Weird' Al Yankovich, it's instead an unabashed and fearless foray into gray areas that no other 'serious' musician would dare tread.

In order to gauge this side of Rundgren, one only need look at the pictures included both above and below to understand. In the photo at the top of the page, he comes off looking like a high school senior and student president of the Tri-County Ham Radio Society, yucking it up for the obligatory Edgemont Ridge High School yearbook photo, circa 1983. And any straight man who has the balls to walk around in the ridiculous looking outfit pictured at the beginning of this paragraph couldn't possibly take themselves too damn seriously, not to even mention the exceptionally fey image shown below. I mean, come on 'fer Christ's sake! Anyone other than Rundgren as 'Rock Star!' would get the shit beat out of them if they stepped out of the house in these outfits!


But when it comes to his music, the humor displays many faces. Much of it is tongue in cheek, while other times satirical. Often it's conceptual, and in some instances, presented in the form of epigrams, conundrums, and nonesensisms. Lots of it is just plain silly, but all of it is witty, good humored, and quite musical. A few things to consider. Loopy songcraft aside, how many bona fide rock stars would have risked tackling Gilbert and Sullivan's over the top 'Lord Chancellor's Nightmare' at the height of their career? Consider too, Rundgren's answer to his record labels demand for 'hits' by recording and submitting an album of letter perfect, note for note recreations of proven Top 10 sellers by The Yardbirds, Beatles, Hendrix, Dylan, and The Beach Boys (who are represented by Todd's superb cover of 'Good Vibrations' in the accompanying mix). That was some very funny conceptual shit, and in a very Rundgrenesque way! It's a perfect example of his sometimes 'smart aleck' humor. What a wise ass! And then ponder this for a moment. What kind of mind would even contemplate writing a song that focuses exclusively on onomatopoeic words? I mean really, how many times has even the word itself, onomatopoeia, ever come up in conversation? Furthermore, raise your hand if you can honestly say you even know what an freakin' onomatopoeia is? I didn't think so. Well, I'll tell you what kind of mind would reflect on something like that. The mind of Todd Rundgren, and Spike Jones maybe. You get the picture?

Then there are the sonic jokes like 'Dogfight Giggle,' the electronically produced sound of a dogfight that slowly morphs into a sexual romp with us, the listener, as voyeur. Several additional tracks in the set come from Rundgren's score to Joe Orton's ill fated script, 'Up Against It.' Intended for The Beatles as a follow-up to their 'Help' film, it was eventually produced off-Broadway in 1989 with Rundgren displaying substantial skills as the next potential Stephen Sondheim in waiting. Others still are weirdly comical in only the most abstract of ways, like 'Heavy Metal Kids' which I happen to find uproarious, though maybe it's only me. But think about it, don't we all know some potential 'crank' like the one portrayed in the song? One who has at one time or another shared the same sentiment expressed within the lyric? The one in the line that says, "I know that I could make this world so peaceful and calm, if I could only get my hands on a hydrogen bomb." I know I've been there. More than a few times.

The magic comes by way of two selections herein, 'Little Red Lights,' and 'There Are No Words.' Much the way Jimi Hendrix simulated the sound of fireworks and bombs exploding in his infamous take on 'The Star Spangled Banner,' Rundgren does something similar in '...Red Lights' by sonically portraying a rumbling, gas guzzling half ton hulk of chrome and steel in the form of a bad-ass muscle machine (in this case, a Ford GT), taking it from ignition, to pulling from the curb, lurching through the shifting of gears, through hitting the open road at law breaking speeds. Once there, the song's protagonist spots the 'little red lights' of a pursuing police car in his rear view mirror, which leads to an all out high speed chase that ends with disastrous results. It's not so much quirky, as it is masterful, and pretty powerful stuff. In 'There Are No Words,' one can only marvel at the ethereal results that are mustered by just one sound, a simple 'Ooooo' that is then drenched in echo and supplemented with multilayered harmonies to create one of the most heavenly, and mystic three minutes in pop music. As for the remainder? Well, they may not be funny at all. They're merely biting commentary, or sarcastically contemptuous rebuffs. I think they're hilarious, or then again, is it just me who finds that sort of thing funny?

Pretty dopey, huh? I'll tell ya', if it were me,
I'd be drinking something far stronger than a 'Boy Howdy'
in order to get up the nerve to walk out on stage in this getup!

All in all, the set below is intended to showcase the humorous side of Rundgren, as does the quirky material included in No.#2 of the series, TR-i: The Experimental Recordings. Additionally, the video below further demonstrates his wackiness.* Don't let any of this fool you however. Behind the loopiness is a deadly serious musician, and a master craftsman. He just happens to be one with a refreshing sense of playfulness and fun, and one who is not afraid to take chances both personally and professionally, regardless of how ridiculous they might make him appear. Only an artist who truly knows their own self worth would be confident enough to risk allowing their silly side to potentially undermine their status as a force to be reckoned with. Todd Rundgren is one of those artists.

*This is not the one I was hoping to feature (Todd's promotional video for 'An Elpee's Worth Of Toons' which has apparently been removed for copyright violations), but this is equally off the hook. It comes from David Sanborn's short lived, 'Night Music' progam, and features himself, along with Taj Mahal, Todd's future wife, Michelle, Pat Metheny, and others (including some sketchy looking guy on the triangle), all performing 'Never Mind The Way And Wherefore' from Gilbert & Sullivan's, 'H.M.S. Pinafore.' Wacky stuff!

Update: April 2012
Here's the one I wanted to share!

Todd: Goofball, Magician, Madhatter

1.) Intro
2.) Dogfight Giggle
3.) Emperor Of The Highway
4.) Heavy Metal Kids
5.) Onomatopoeia
6.) Useless Begging
7.) Sidewalk Cafe
8.) Little Red Lights
9.) The Smell Of Money
10.) Life Is A Drag
11.) Good Vibrations
12.) There Are No Words
13.) Prana
14.) Family Values
15.) Song Of The Viking
16.) I Went To The Mirror
17.) Piss Aaron
18.) Four In One
(with Gary Windo)
19.) Just Another Onionhead/DAda Dali
20.) Stood Up
21.) Free, Male & 21
22.) Lili's Address (Intro)
23.) Lord Chancellor's Nightmare
24.) An Elpee's Worth Of Toons

My sincere thanks to Roger Linder of The Todd Rundgren Connection for his help on this one.

Source material for 'Todd: Goofball, Magician, Madhatter' comes from the following:
Runt//Something/Anything?//A Wizard, A True Star//Todd//Initiation
Faithful//Hermit Of Mink Hollow//The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect
Up Against It//The Individualist//Liars//Todd Rundgren's Utopia
Todd Is God//TRTV, Vols.1&2
That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute To Thelonious Monk

Over The Hill

In Remembrance Of John Martyn (1948-2009)
Friday, March 13, 2009

For me, there runs a lamentable undercurrent of regret to find myself only now extolling the virtues of the late John Martyn, when perhaps I could (and should) have sang his praises within these pages months ago. Wouldn't a more reverential way to champion an artist that one admires be to pay respect while they are still alive and productive, rather than eulogizing their contributions in aftermath of passing from this mortal coil? Truth to told, Martyn was in fact on my short list for inclusion here at Birds With Broken Wings, but time, fate, distractions, and the unforgivable sin of procrastination foiled my intentions. Today however, I'll now state what I've always held true regarding John Martyn, and that is that he was an artiste in the most complete sense of the word. An extremely gifted songwriter and guitarist who consistently pushed the boundaries of his craft, sometimes resulting in spectacular genius, while other times ending in dismal failure. And as many gifted creators are, he was also self destructive, battling a crippling, lifelong romance with the demon alcohol. His excessive drinking often lead to on-stage moments of musical brilliance, punctuated by the drunken antics and incoherent ramblings of a hopeless Sterno bum. But he understood and acknowledged the severity of his addiction, once stating, sounding very much like 'the ever tortured artist,' "If I could control myself more, I think the music would be much less interesting. I'd probably be a great deal healthier, not to mention wealthier, but I'd have had far less fun, and I'd be making incredibly dull music." Yet despite his unquenchable thirst for the grain, Martyn managed to produce 20 some odd recordings during his career, not all of them wonderful, but each of them deeply personal, and always holding more than a few magical moments.

John Martyn was mostly (and mistakenly) considered a folkie, but only by those who were only marginally familiar with his oeuvre. Though his beginnings were decidedly folk oriented, a more accurate description of him would be that of a 'folkie with a jazz soul.' If you were to follow the arc of his musical development, one can plainly hear his rapid progression from a traditional troubadour and country bluesman, to a jazz infused acoustic guitarist who utilized electronic effects to create electro/acoustic sound paintings that were not so much experimental, as they were simply evocative. From early on, his laconic, smokey, slurred vocals, combined with his intricate finger-picked guitar mastery, he displayed a uniqueness that easily set him apart from his contemporaries. As he refined his approach, one of the additions he made to his kit bag was the use of an Echoplex. It seems he had heard a sound on a record that had a profound affect upon him, and little did he know that it would also affect the nature of the musical direction that he was to take from that point forward. The artist, and name of that recording was Pharoah Sander's 'Karma.' Martyn, then 21 years of age stated, "It was like a bolt of lightning! I'd never heard someone play so emotionally, and with that sense of humanity. The only reason I bought the Echoplex was to try and imitate Sander's sustain on my guitar." The second addition to his arsenal was teaming up with bassist extraordinaire, Danny Thompson, which led to the creation of some very powerful music as the two of them fed off each other's intrinsic musicianship. In the process, and well beyond, Martyn explored folk, jazz, blues, electronics, and pop, to create a sound and style that his peers just simply couldn't touch. Although the two men had worked together extensively over the years, their interplay is best demonstrated on three of Martyn's lesser know recordings, 'Live At Leeds,' 'Germany 1986,' and 'The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal 1986,' the latter with drummer, Arran Ahmun. All are exemplary examples of their sterling musicianship and interaction. Thompson explained the chemistry saying, "When you finished a gig, John wouldn't say 'You know, on that second number, Danny, we should've...,' or before a show he wouldn't announce 'what we''ll do is...,' or 'and in the third number we...,' John would just do what he did and I would follow, and then I would take the lead and he'd follow me. It was a perfect relationship that reached incredible highs because of its uniqueness and spontaneity."

One of Martyn's more experimental recordings was 'One World.' Released in 1977, the story behind the record is as interesting as the date itself. Created in the courtyard of an island home situated in the middle of a small English lake, equipment was set up on either end of the body of water to incorporate the calming sound of waves lapping at the shores, and to additionally include the flock of geese that called the body of water home. The lake also served to reflect back the amplified music, creating a 'strangled' quality to the guitar solos, resulting in a most unusual sounding LP. There is also a companion piece, 'Another World' that contains instrumentals and material not included on the official release which informs us that the all of the sessions were recorded exclusively between the hours of 3am to 6am. Unfortunately, you'd need to possess the U.K. mix of 'One World,' as the version released here in the States was entirely remixed having been deemed to contain 'no commercial content.' Not surprisingly, Martyn moved towards decidedly more mainstream recordings after this, perhaps at the urging of his label, or maybe to finally earn a bit of money, and perhaps to gain some well deserved recognition from the buying public. More surprisingly however was that despite his distinct and incredible guitar chops, Martyn later in his career occasionally dropped the instrument all together to produce keyboard based recordings. These were perhaps less satisfying musical excursions, but as always, each were filled with some unexpected magic, as well as the unique imprint of his sound and talent.

Not surprisingly, Martyn's alcohol abuse took its toll as the years went on. Ongoing health problems resulted in complications that left him bloated beyond recognition, and required the amputation of a leg, forcing him to remain confined to a wheelchair in his final years. Unfettered however, he soldiered on, continuing to make music while suffering his myriad of handicaps. In fact, according to a December 2008 article in the England's 'The Sun,' Martyn was scheduled to record this very year with his inspiration, Pharoah Sanders. Regrettably, that session will never came to pass. John Martyn passed away in his hospital bed somewhere in the Republic of Ireland on January 29, 2009 at the age of 60. And I sincerely doubt that Martyn went 'gentle into that good night.' Such was the man. But you'll be missed, John.

About The Music

Two sets by John, one acoustic, one electric. Both are distinctly different in their approach, but each contain the unique ingredients that make Martyn's music so personal and unequalled.

Mostly Acoustic, And Late Night

1.) Over The Hill
2.) Solid Air
3.) Glistening Glyndebourne
4.) I Don't Want To Know
5.) One Day Without You
6.) Lay It All Down
7.) Man In The Station
8.) Spencer The Rover
9.) Inside Out
10.) Fine Lines
11.) Ways To Cry
12.) May You Never
13.) Bless The Weather
14.) Certain Surprise
15.) Small Hours
16.) I'd Rather Be The Devil (Pt.2)


Mostly Late Night, And Electric

1.) Could've Been Me
2.) On The Cobbles
3.) Some People Are Crazy
4.) Angeline
5.) Over The Rainbow
6.) You Know
7.) Amsterdam
8.) One World
9.) Live On Love
10.) Look At That Girl
11.) Hold Me
12.) Never Say Never
13.) Hung Up
14.) The Moment
15.) Couldn't Love You More
16.) Pascanel (Get Back Home)
17.) Please Don't Fall In Love With Me



Source material for 'John Martyn: Late Night, Acoustic & Electric' comes from the following recordings:
Bless The Weather (1971)/Solid Air (1973)/Inside Out (1973)
Sunday's Child (1974)/Live At Leeds (1976)/One World (1978)
Grace And Danger (1980)/Glorious Fool (1980)/Well Kept Secret (1982)
Sapphire (1985)/Piece By Piece (1986)/The Apprentice (1990)
No Little Boy (1993) and On The Cobbles (2004)

For more information on John Martyn, please visit his website JohnMartyn.com

The Beauty Of Time...

...Is That It's Snowing

Friday, March 06, 2009




About The Music

A simple, but engaging compilation of psychedelic ear candy strung together in a two part suite with lots of stereo panning and studio trickery. Nothing too obscure here, but it does contain a heavy dose of prime West Coast acid rock and East Coast psychedelia. Nearly all the contributors are North America in origin (sans Harry Georgison's 'Wonderwall Music'), showcasing the Utopian sensibilities of the San Francisco fraction, and the darker, apocalyptic vision of their L.A. counterparts. A few others come from less chronicled regions of psychedelia including SRC (representing Detroit), H.P. Lovecraft (from Chicago), Friend Sound (of Seattle), and J.K. & Co. (from their neighbor to the north in Vancouver, B.C.). Touch, I believe, hailed from Portland, Oregon, while The Corporation, I know little about other than their engaging 19 minute treatment of John Coltrane's 'India.' The remainder largely represent New York and its greater environs. And did I leave anyone out? Oh yeah, Jimi Hendrix. Seemingly English with his British band mates, and arriving quite ceremoniously from London where he had gone to find his true voice. But remember, he's Seattle, Washington's prodigal son, equalled only by Kurt Cobain who is not represented here by virtue of his not having existed at the time of these recordings.

This auralphonic excursion into LSD inspired sonic territory contains music could have only have been borne in the sociocultural experiments of the late 60's. Artificially induced mind expansion reached an apex of sorts during those years, largely due to an abundance of the aforementioned lysergic acid diethylmide. But the Utopian vision brought about by the drug's properties could never stand the scrutiny of the masses who attempted to embrace it. No amount of psychotropic chemical ingestion could conceivably enlighten the many who were already crippled far beyond repair. Mankind has proven across the ages to be impervious to peaceful, harmonious living, with or without chemical supplementation. Only those who were already a few planes higher in the realm of spiritual evolution could have possibly hoped to achieve the luminous clarity of nirvana that was one of the inferred promises of the drug.

The sounds and ideas in these two sets are from an era that will never happen again, no matter how many try in vain to attempt a recreation. And that's probably a good thing, for if you ever lived in San Francisco during the years that followed the 'Summer of Love,' you'd realize that the fabled 'Love Street,' and most all of the ideology that it once stood for had been greatly romanticized. In reality, it choked on it's own vomit years ago, brought down to it's knees by ignorance, stupidity, greed, explotation, and spiritual and cultural underdevelopment. The only part of the legacy surrounding that period that survived relatively unscathed... was the music.

*

**

Two ways to download 'The Beauty Of Time...'

The fun way:
Click on the album cover images in each of the two sets.
One and only one will lead to the download link for that particular set.
Hint: One band is from Low Cal, the other from the Midwest.
The easy way:
Click on the corresponding the red asterik.
Your choice.

My thanks to Leonard from RedTelephone66
for providing me with a clean copy of Pookah, and also for introducing me to Friend Sound.