INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE

Justifiably MARS EVERYWHERE, at least this album, can be treated as an insiders' tip if you're going to point out some unique space rock classics. Hailing from the Washington DC area they started as a duo acting in the vein of the good old Berlin School producing electronic sounds coming from diverse analogue synthesizers. Several recordings from this period are existing on cassette only. But more and more the project evolved towards space rock when incorporating bass and drums and experienced several line-up changes. Now this album seems to be the band's culmination point speaking of the artistical qualities. Unfortunately soon after they disappeared from the scene.

It's wondrous that this album is not digitally re-issued yet - the original vinyl is very hard to find though - relatively expensive at any rate. Here we have a lot of contributors and the electronic component is still very dominant - what means nearly every musician handles a synthesizer or similar equipment. This will be confirmed when starting with the opener The Enchanted Domain and experimental electronics first, slightly implying some war adapted sounds I would say. But soon they contrast when fading into a melancholic gliding phase where bass and drums appear. They provide a wonderful spacey mood with sparkling organ similar background, later supported by trumpet which even serves an avantgarde touch. And then founder Ernie Falcone comes up with an expressive guitar solo. Man .. this is really impressing!

Steady State Theory now shows them blending spacey and jazzy fusionesque elements, Barney Jones uses the clarinet - stylistically this reminds me of Doug Walker (Alien Planetscapes) who unfortunately passed away far too early. The intriguing Mare Chromium leads you to other planets once again, echoing clarinet and soaring guitar are duelling - the synthesizers take a backseat here. Zöln continues with a weird vocal contribution and then again they start to another journey accompanied by twittering synths. A mysterious pulsative behaviour, many breaks and turns - this is pushing the track to something highly entertaining, wow!

'Industrial Sabotage' offers space rock off the beaten path because MARS EVERYWHERE provide a very unique and enjoyable cocktail here. Highly recommended if you have the chance to reach for a vinyl copy.

This is one of the most unique albums that I've ever heard. Heck when you see it tagged as Electronic, Space Rock, Free Jazz and Avant Jazz you know your in going into uncharted territory. Once I heard these guys played and hung out with THE MUFFINS around the Washington, DC area where they are from it explained a lot(haha). Some of THE MUFFINS even appear on this album as Dave Newhouse engineered a couple of these songs while Tom Scott plays bassoon on one song. We get three live tunes on here while the rest are studio tracks and this was released in 1980.

There are a ton of electronics and synths on this album along with clarinet, trumpet, sequencers, drums, bass and guitar. Love the pictures of the band members in black and white with their instruments, especially Greg who is blowing his trumpet with a bass guitar strapped around his shoulder while he uses his free hand to turn knobs on the electronics as it were. I do appreciate the guitar on this one along with the upfront bass.

"The Enchanted Domain" is the 12 1/2 minute opener. Spacey and experimental to start with distant sounds. Some percussion and guitar arrive around 2 1/2 minutes and it's spacey. This is good. Some brief trumpet after 6 1/2 minutes in a sparse setting once again. It's really spacey before 8 minutes then suddenly a drum line signals the start of a guitar led section that lasts to the end. Nice.

"Steady State Theory" opens with what sounds like pulses of electronics until it becomes steady(haha) as the drums join in. Some random drum patterns here as the bass kicks in and it sounds amazing. Kind of a Free Jazz vibe here with some strange sounds thrown in. I'm really enjoying this when the guitar comes in lighting it up after 3 minutes. Spacey synths 4 minutes in will come and go while the bass really stands out becoming Jazz-like eventually. Cool. Not for long though as it turns very spacey once again. What an impressive track though, so many good ideas here and throughout this album.

"Mare Chromium" was recorded live at Georgetown University in December of 1978. Man this is one of my favourites with the crazy clarinet expressions and trippy sound with bass and drums. Spacey too of course and the guitar brings Richard Pinhas to mind when it arrives. Great track! "Industrial Sabotage" was recorded live at the American University Auditorium in September of 1979. Very spacey and experimental. Difficult is the word but this sounds cool.

"Zoln" is 10 1/2 minutes long and my favourite. Spacey and ominous as slowly spoken words arrive. Creepy stuff and the vocals stop after a minute as that dark and spacey sound continues. A bass line kicks in after 2 1/2 minutes then the drums join in. Oh man! Spacey synths over top as the tempo picks up as we get some killer Space Rock. Love the bass here. The bass and drums stop before 5 minutes as it turns incredibly spacey. So good! The bass is back then the guitar starts to soar. Pulsating keys as well and check out the guitar after 7 1/2 minutes. A spacey calm after 8 minutes and it's experimental as well to the end.

"Attack Of The Giant Squid" was recorded live at D.C. Space in June of 1979. Applause to begin then some banter with the audience and more before electronics takes over and synths along with some horn blasts. Difficult stuff here. "Zone Of Twilight" features spacey and experimental sounds once again. This is so impressive though with all of these sounds mixed together, an Electronic fan's dream right here. Is that guitar 3 1/2 minutes in? The synths sound like they are screaming at one point then it all calms down late to end it.

This is most certainly a recording that doesn't work as background music like a lot of Avant music doesn't. Unique is the word that kept coming to my mind while spending all week with it. And it's hard to find "unique" anymore but MARS EVERYWHERE really did something creative and innovative here and yes this needs to be heard.

One of the most obscure and unique bands to come out of the U.S in the 70's. Grew out of the underground scene of Washington D.C in the mid 70's, Mars Everywhere evolved from a three man avant garde electronic project to something that eventually refused to be fixated neither in space rock nor in electronic prog. In 1977 Random Radar Records (which is considered to be the ancestors of Cuneiform Records releasing albums by underground progressive bands in the end of the 70's and early 80's such as The Muffins, Art Bears and the excellent band However), released a compilation album (sampler) of artists like Fred Frith, The Muffins, Lol Coxhill and more. This early line up of Mars Everywhere contributed one track, the avant electronic piece Attack Of The Giant Squid to the album. After that time Ernie Falcone suggested adding more instruments to the mix like drums, guitars and woodwinds and by that stirring the band into a more exciting space rock, avant jazz direction. The band at that time included founding members Ernie Falcone, Barney Jones and Tom Fenwick recruiting also Greg Yaskovich and Robin Anderson, playing electric guitar, bass, drums and woodwinds while most of them playing keyboards and synths! After a line up change they were left as a four piece band when the album came out in 1980. Being a D.C based band Dave Newhouse and Tom Scott from The Muffins are also credited here which makes this album even more fascinating. Industrial Sabotage is their only official album although I know there are two more cassettes with more material but not as accomplished as this. The album include 7 tracks, 3 of them recorded live at different universities in Washington in the end of the 70's and the rest are studio tracks, all of the musicians appear in the album since the recording lasted for a long period of time, in spite of that the album works as a whole unit.

Hard to imagine but the band were drawing a lot of influences from Germany's krautrock and electronic giants like Conrad Schnitzler, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dreams, Ash Ra Tempel and Richard Pinhas/Heldon. They wildly mixed Soft Machine and The Muffins's jazz experiments and the Psychedelic/space rock dimensions of Gong and Here & Now, throw some avant garde weirdness like Ummagumma studio sound effects to the mix and you'll get the picture.

Enchanted Domain the 12 minute opener is a great example of their take on electronic space rock, you just have to close your eyes and go with the flow. Beginning with a long and spacey build up of synthesizer washes, echoing glissando guitar on top of a gentle rhythm section, which later picks up dramatically with a crunchy electric guitar solo by Falcone, wonderful! Their free jazz, improv fusion influences are especially highlighted in Steady State Theory and Mare Chromium both my favorites, including screaming woodwinds and manipulative effected reeds drowning in psychedelic atmosphere augmented by Falcone's sizzling guitar bends and fiery runs, really crazy and original take on that mix of genres.

The fact that the band had so many keyboard players reflected in their synthesized weird experiments built around a few layers of keys, effected guitars and all sorts of alien noises to create a menacing dark sonic soundscapes featured in the title track and the closing piece Attack Of The Giant Squid, which the liner notes indicated was recorded live in 1979 which I think is a mistake since this version sounds to me exactly as the one appearing in the RRR sampler released in 1977, mentioning this was recorded live in 1976. Zone Of Twilight is a rocky version of that famous show main theme and a very successful attempt it is, this is more resembling to Gong's space rock excursions with soaring glissando guitars, murmuring synth travels and a beautiful distorted bass sound, Gilli Smyth would feel right at home here, fantastic piece! Zoln (great name for a zehul band!) is another long piece to experiment with, it starts out with some creepy sound effects noodling then picks up with a pulsating rhythm section topped with wild synth effects flying all over and a fuzzed distorted bass, a space rock heaven right there. It continues with guitar and keyboard soaring solos and multilayered synth effects, this is really deranged in a good way of course.

It's wondrous that this album wasn't reissued yet because this would definitely appeal to a lot of prog/psychedelic fans everywhere, especially for those who are looking for the more out there obscure gems. I'm guessing this would get pretty pricey if you can find a second hand vinyl but it's worth it. Easy 4 stars for this highly creative and unique album.