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Jan Dukes De Grey - Mice and Rats in the Loft CD (album) cover

MICE AND RATS IN THE LOFT

Jan Dukes De Grey

 

Prog Folk

4.21 | 246 ratings

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friso
Prog Reviewer
5 stars Jan Dukes De Grey's first record isn't even that promising, but their second album should be taken in consideration by every serious collector of progressive music. It's the type of progressive music that isn't a copy of anything, just a wonderful work of originality. The music is mixture of acid folk (think of Comus and Spirogyra) and Canterbury-esque avant-prog with a chamber music sound (almost a bit like Henry Cow). The band was a multi-instrumentalist trio and I would love to know how they ever recorded this at times almost orchestral work of beauty with a small budget in 1971. The recording sound is fine as well. Key to the album's sound are the authentic throaty mad men vocals, the heavy beating of the Irish Bouzouki (sounds a bit like a twelve-string guitar), the bass played on a cello, the dubbed string sections and a variety of percussion (a bit like on Robert Wyatt's 'Rock Bottom'). The epic 'Sun Symphonica' opens in a gentle psychedelic fashion (though that Bouzouki hits early on) and evolves into this ever intensifying symphonic folk song that tells of the horrors of war. The fast paced ending sections is particularly Canterbury-like with it repetitive jazzy patterns. On side two 'Call Of The Wild' has a similar sound, whereas the title song of the album is distinctively more acid-like and visceral. This is a simply mind-blowing listening experience and one of the best truly progressive albums of classic period.
friso | 5/5 |

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