The No-Neck Blues Band are a semi-improvisational collective ofmusicians making fragmented, shamanistic music that alternately toucheson elements of blues, folk, country, bluegrass, psychedelia andkrautrock. For all these myriad influences, the No-Necks have arrivedat a sound that is not very far from Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra or thefirst two Amon Duul albums. That is to say, very unstructured andchaotic hippie drum circle music that will probably sound best to thosehopelessly in the throes of a violent hallucinatory state. There aresome moments of genuine psych-folk intensity, like the dark mumbledvocals and cello drones that occur about 10 minutes into the firsttrack "assignment subud." However, most of these songs sort of meanderin a non-engaging way through enticing song fragments that melt awayjust as they become interesting. I think you might be able to achievesome of the same effect by recording the Dave Matthews Band as theywarm up. Well, not really, but it felt good to write that. In allhonesty, the reason I can't get very excited about this release isbecause there is so much music in this same vein that is so muchbetter. The Boredoms "Vision Creation Newsun" or Acid Mothers Templetraditional folk album "La Novia" are both far superior examples ofthis genre. This first pressing of this CD comes with beautifulhome-made packaging made of plexiglass, Velcro and burnished plywood.It is unfortunate that the music contained within really doesn't fullylive up to its aesthetic aspirations.
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