MILKWEED

Milkweed are a Canadian ensemble featuring vocals, drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, oboe and sax, and this, their only release from 1978, is a rare oddity, lovingly re-issued on vinyl, thanks to Greg Walker's Syn-Phonic label, with a much nicer artwork. The music covers a great scope of styles, from the almost New-Wave synth pop of the first track, 'Nervous Houses' (4.34), to Avant-Garde, Symphonic, and even, thanks to some synth sounds, Neo-Prog. Accompanied by some amusing narration/poetry, the players are often in full-throttle mode, especially the Keyboardist, Sergio Goncalves, who composed all the tracks. The track 'Milkweed' (7.18) is a prime, prog arrangement, and 'Time-Bomb Ticking' (8.10), is a fast and furious jam with some fantastic drumming. The overall production is very crisp and clean sounding, even if a little 'thin'. Side 2 consists of a shorter than usual, side-long composition, 'Out For A Walk' (13.37), and is totally instrumental with 3 distinctive sections. Starting out with some avant-jazz piano backed with upright Bass, this lasts the first 4 minutes or so, then the band comes in with a mid-tempo groove, featuring a long synth solo, which then gives way to the almost baroque sounding end section with piano, oboe and acoustic guitar. A superb album, worth tracking down for all serious prog-heads.