The Parable of Arable Land
The Ol' Hwang-ho
In 1966, a FREE FORM FREAKOUT album was recorded, by a group of 3 core
musicians and exactly 50 auxillary musicians called "The Red Crayola". As you
might suspect, an album from '66 is not going to resemble the sort of
progressive rock that was being played in '72. However, in terms of weirdness
and innovation this album may be of considerable worth. I can't say I've ever
heard anything like it.
The album, _The Parable of Arable Land_, features five songs which are
wound together without pause (other than to flip the record after the 3rd).
The whole album seems to go "in and out of phase", nearing total chaos during
the freakouts and more structure during the songs. It never completely reaches
a pole, though, which is interesting. Even at the most obnoxious, some of the
instruments are still maintaining order underneath the noise. On the other
hand, even during the calm, orderly moments one can quite often hear the faint
murmur of the chaos, subdued.
Now, keep in mind that this album is far on the psychedelic side of
progressive rock, possibly comparable to such things as Amon Duul, early Can
and Soft Machine, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and maybe even Uriel. This
is not to say that it is derivative of those groups. The freakouts are like a
slightly more acidic version of Henry Cow or Muffins improvisations. Remember
the Teenbeat introduction on _LegEnd_? Perhaps along those lines.
Does The Red Crayola tie in with the progressive scene? Not directly, to
my knowledge. No members shared with other groups. However, stylistically
they do have similarities with many bands. There is good news, for _The
Parable of Arable Land_ has finally been released on CD! The disc even
preserves the original albums inner sleeve notes, which are important. Also,
this album has what I would say is the MOST OBNOXIOUS sixties album cover I
have ever seen. And there's competition! The LP (on International Artists) is
worth it just for the full size cover.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Mark Bergen | Don't believe the spectacle of free. +
+ e-mail: mbe...@macalstr.edu | No one ever let you see. -H. Cow +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
David Mandl
The Red Krayola (later Red Crayola) never played PROG rock. I would
consider them unequivocally a psychedelic band. The "leader" was
Mayo Thompson, who many years later produced The Raincoats (1st LP
just finally reissued on CD--yay!). He also put out the solo LP
"Corky's Debt to His Father" a while back, which is excellent but
definitely not anything like Progressive Rock either.
The RC put out a bunch of records, also as The Red Crayola with Art &
Language, a punkier collective that included members of the Raincoats
as well as Lora Logic. This was very late '70s. The first Red Krayola
LP came out in '68 or so.
Coincidentally, Mayo Thompson has just returned to the scene. He's
apparently re-formed the Red Crayola and is performing with them here
in NYC this weekend. Very good news.
--Dave.
--
Dave Mandl
dma...@panix.com (play)
dma...@lehman.com (work)
Jeff Spirer
>Mayo Thompson, who many years later produced The Raincoats (1st LP
>just finally reissued on CD--yay!). He also put out the solo LP
What label? And any chance that Essential Logic will ever be released on CD?
Jeff
Malcolm Humes
>The RC put out a bunch of records, also as The Red Crayola with Art &
>Language, a punkier collective that included members of the Raincoats
>as well as Lora Logic. This was very late '70s. The first Red Krayola
>LP came out in '68 or so.
I think there may have been some Pere Ubu folks on Art & Language too -
I know that much of Pere Ubu appears with Mayo on the Red Krayola's
Soldier Talk, a 1979 release.
- malcolm
The Lighthouse Keeper
Hey - I remember hearing this Red Crayola album way back around the time
of early Zappa and all the bizarre acid-influenced stuff like the West
Coast Pop art Experimental Band - and I'd forgotten all about it !
As I recall there were other Red Crayola albums too ! Is this on CD now ?
--
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | ...and though the past has it's share of injustice |
| Peter | kind was the spirit in many a way |
| pt...@netcom.com | but its protectors and friends have been sleeping |
| | now it's a monster and will not obey. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
David Mandl
Believe it or not...Geffen! And believe it or not, it includes liner
notes by...Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). I'm not kidding. Well, at least
we can assume it'll be easy to find and in print for a while...
Re Essential Logic: As far as I know, there's absolutely zero available
on CD now, and I haven't heard any rumors about coming releases either.
Shit, if they could release the Adverts on CD, why not E.L.? BTW, their
stuff wasn't easy to find even when it was relatively new and on vinyl,
but if you look around, you can find it here and there for cheap.
David Mandl
> Hey - I remember hearing this Red Crayola album way back around the time
> of early Zappa and all the bizarre acid-influenced stuff like the West
> Coast Pop art Experimental Band - and I'd forgotten all about it !
> As I recall there were other Red Crayola albums too ! Is this on CD now ?
At least some of it is available on CD, maybe all. (I haven't checked
because I've got it all on vinyl.) A friend of mine has a CD with both
"Parable of Arable Land" and "God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail
With It." I'd look for that one for sure.
Other LPs were "Soldier Talk" by the Red Crayola, and "Kangaroo" and
"Black Snakes" by the Red Crayola with Art and Language. Also several
singles.
Review of Saturday's show: A Little sloppy but very good. Instrumentation
was just two guitars and a drummer.