THE FIVE HEAVENLY TRUTHS

This album is a collection of mostly improvisational pieces, some live, some studio recordings, by guitarist Henry Kaiser. Most of the tracks are Kaiser either alone or with minimal accompaniment, two are backing up poet Vernon Edgar (who has a Captain Beefheart sort of way with words).

The album is not for those who shy away from the experimental, as the majority of pieces are relatively formless guitar sounds. I happen to like that very much on occasion. For those who need more structure, there is a Crazy Backwards Alphabet (Kaiser, Andy West and John French, with slide guitarist Scott Colby sitting in) live track, The Welfare Elite.

I wouldn't recommend this as a place to start your Henry Kaiser collection, but fans of Fred Frith's (a sometime Kaiser cohort) would probably like this one as much as I do.