George Carlin • 1937 - 2008

...and the hits just keep on coming...I was a fan of George Carlin as a young Doctor in my formative years of record collecting. His work, stood up to repeated listening unlike say Cheech and Chong, or even Steve Martin. Where with the aforementioned others it was stoned humor that merely accentuated the state you were in before the record went on, or just a vanity project, Carlin's records were like reading a eye opening Philosophy lesson. Where Hegel or Kant were not known for their humor, and Sartre is the death of any party, he told the truth (granted from a crabby perspective) and was just witty enough to get it under your skin. There it would fester like a alien virus, eating out the lies and crap that lived in the cerebellum. Yes, there were lapses in judgment, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and a short lived sitcom on Fox in the early 90's come readily to mind, but at no point did he ever soften. I couldn't help but think that what you saw was what you got. Salute...

Alton Kelly • 1940 - 2008

Psychedelic poster artistes, a limited breed to begin with, has lost one of it's numbers last week.

Alton Kelly along with Stanley Mouse created some of

the more iconic graphics that lasted well in to the

70's...somehow they always

wound up doing the images for lame bands, ie: The Grateful Dead and Journey. Regretfully the art didn't elevate the music. I wonder if the Dead would have lasted as long as they did without the trippy Gothic skeleton? As we all know, the music rarely if ever came to matching greatness. The Dark Star 45 being an exception...

Please click on the obituary title for selected track: Dark Star (45 rpm version)

The Zodiac • Cosmic Sounds: celestial counterpoint with words and music (Elektra, 1967)

When asked what sign am born under, often I find myself at a loss for explanation. Does the asker mean here on Earth, and even then, what dimensional version of earth. Simple questions are often as vexing as mandible reconstruction...but as society grows more venial, what people are now interested when it comes to personal secrets are how many electric appliances you command, or where on your body are the debt markers are. To think 40 years ago what most interested people was your Sun and Moon signs. An inexact science would get you in a conversation, and soon enough a Mer Goat would be copulating wildly with a Scale. If they were lucky you could have a pair of twins join you, or at least a pair of twin fish...It was in these times, when Cosmic Sounds: celestial counterpoint with words and music came from.

Sonorous spoken word by Cyrus Faryar, who clearly was taking acting lessons from William Shatner, velvetly drapes one of the better marriages of Moog and Psychedelia. This is the music one thinks of when an AIP movie comes to mind. Fuzzy optic shots of nubile ladies, their bodies painted with all forms of archaic symbols, Big Sur's waves crashing behind them.

Don't try to make sense out of what he's saying, on inspection the faux haiku's fall apart, but anything with substance would have weighed down the music.

The compositions are by Mort Garson, who would do other Occult themed electronic music LP's, but they tend to just be him alone and lack the fleshed out sonics of the Cosmic Sounds LP. Providing the mini orchestra here are some of the Wrecking Crew, Gene Estes, Paul Beaver, and on guitar someone (uncredited) who sounds amazingly like Frank Zappa. The guitar solo to Cancer - The Moon Child, is a near match for Zolar Czakl from Uncle Meat. More of that distinctive way of playing shows up on Sagittarius - The Versatile Daredevil.

With all of these ingredients you have the makings of one somehow forgotten classic. There were many zodiac LP's in the sixties and seventies, but this has the ring of being crafted by people who were trying for something new.

Mort Garson died in January 2008, and this LP was reissued in 2002. I hope that in the time between the reissue and his passing, he had got some recognition for broadening the palate of electronic music.

Please click on the review title for selected track: Cancer - The MoonChild

Dorothy Ashby • The Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby (Cadet, 1970)

Convalescing aging, my friends...nothing glamorous like having ones cells refashioned for life on this side of the dimensions, or being fitted with a new set of penal glands...no, your Doctor was in need of some dental work, and I went under the surgical tool at some other's hand.

While rooting around for something to listen to in this lightly medicated state, this little album fits in. Here Ashby recites the simplistic poetry of Omar Khayyam, in a way that recalls the hushed wonder of a children's record. Adding to Ashby's harp is exotic instrumentation not unlike Bobby Calenders Rainbow LP. Where that albums take was more of a cash in of what the kid's were (supposedly) listening to, here it is a far more mature affair. A regretful moment is where one arrangement cribs from Chim Chim Cherie, but that is not to say that all is stogy, far from it. The Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby is a record in the fine tradition of other Chess/Cadet Concept recordings. No mater how heavily orchestrated it gets (arrangements supplied by Richard Evens), there is a solid groove running under. It's this that keeps all manners of over the top ideas from getting too far out ahead. One over the top sound that comes in loud and clear is that of a kalimba run through a Uni-Vibe. Add that to the African percussion and you have something laid back to watch sunsets by.

Please click on the review title for selected track: Drink