DAEVID ALLEN WEIRD QUARTET: ELEVENSES

Many, many great moments to relish here. The quartet manages to invoke classic Gong elements, as on Imagicknation, classic Muffins, as on Under the Yumyum Tree Cafe, and yet break new ground throughout. Secretary of Lore could be subtitled Theme From An Imaginary Space Western. Alchemy would not sound out of place on Amon Duul's Vive La Trance, nor Grasshopping on Bowie's Outside (albeit replete with gliss guitar, vintage organ and what sounds like thumb piano). In no way derivitive, a perfect marriage of synthetic and acoustic. What a tribute to/from Daevid Allen, as it contains some of his best work. Hopefully the quartet will continue on, loose knit and unfettered.

The seeds for this particular project began when Daevid Allen and his bass player Michael Clare contributed a few tracks to a California Psychedelic band called SPIRITS BURNING. It was SPIRITS BURNING's second record released in 2001 and a year later Allen, Clare, Falcone from SPIRITS BURNING and drummer Trey Sabatelli started a band called WEIRD BISCUIT TEATIME and released an album called "DJDDAY" in 2005. So fast forward to 2016 and they change the name to DAEVID ALLEN WEIRD QUARTET but we get the same guys plus Paul Sears from THE MUFFINS who shares drum duties with Sabatelli plus a second guitarist. This is a really good album and I'm so impressed with Don Falcone who is a multi-instrumentalist and he adds a lot of instruments to the sound here.

That second track "Imagicknation" sounds so much like an early GONG tune, but my first top three is the next tune "The Latest Curfew Craze" which is fast paced with a surprisingly heavy sound. An instrumental that burns. "Kick That Habit Man" sounds so old school with those spoken words that have an attitude at times. Distorted bass on "Alchemy" from Falcone. I like "The Cold Stuffings Of November" for that spacey and drifting sound. Next top three is "Grasshopping" and no surprise that this clocks in at 4:20. It opens with Allen saying "Here we go!" as the music kicks in. I like how the guitar cries over top. Organ after 2 1/2 minutes and a heavy atmosphere ends it. "God's New Deal" is folky with ethnic sounds including bouzouki and also accordion. "Killer Honey" is my final top three although the final two tracks would sure make my top five if I had gone that way. Rain and water sounds to start before a powerful atmosphere arrives with drums, bass and more. Nice and heavy! "Under The Yum Yum Tree Cafe" and "Banana Construction" end the album in a strong manner.

If your a GONG or Daevid Allen fan I think you'd be surprised at how good this 2016 release is.