LITTLE LUCID MOMENTS

1. "Suite: Little Lucid Moments" (21:10) a very high-energy jam. (35.25/40): - a) "Lawned (Consciousness Causes Collapse)" - sounds like Echolyn with a little Beck mixed in there. The quiet section in the fifth minute is interesting and DOVES-like. (8.66667/10) - b) "A Hoof to the Head" - heavy bass and smashing, crashing drums with guitars set at maximum distorting with OZZIE-like vocals give this one a SABBATH-on-amphetamines feel. Again, DOVES, Some Cities-era, comes to mind. (8.75/10) - c) "Hallucifuge (Hyperrealistically Speaking...)" - pure Motorpsycho imitation 1960s psych rock jamming. Amazing play from the rhythm section with great blues-rockin' soloing over the top from the wailing lead guitar(s) at both ends and classic Motorpsycho/CSN&Y group vocal harmonies in the middle. (8.75/10) - d) "Sweet Oblivion / Perfect Sense" - the "Sweet Oblivion" part feels a bit more like an old instrumental jam from the likes of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS or but then the vocals return for a bit before everything switches into more of a slowed-down blues-rock jam--this one sounding even more like one of Dickey Betts and Duane Allman's classics. (9.125/10)

2. "Year Zero (A Damage Report)" (11:20) starts slowly, like an old-fashioned jam song, building upon one little guitar and bass riff, achieving full spectrum sound and volume by the middle of the fourth minute. I like the sound but this could get a little old. Suddenly, at 3:30, everything comes to a stop and the song becomes a simple Neil Young-like song--with a single singing voice giving this a very Neil Young-like sound and feel. This lasts until the six-minute mark when the guitars and drums ramp it up again (after the vocals have stopped). At 6:45 the vocals (now harmonized) rejoin amidst the loud soundscape but then the music suddenly cuts out again, replaced by a motif that alternates long spaces with three-strum three-chord power chords. After a few rounds of this, the music kicks back in--high octane--for a nice, long, "raunchy" guitar solo. The drumming and music and soloing are all good--especially if you love the long power jams at the end of ALLMAN BROTHERS or LYNYRD SKYNYRD songs. When the jam ends, there is a 40-second long "distant" (quiet) church organ sound taking us to the end. Okay. (17.333333/20)

3. "She Left on the Sun Ship" (14:30) opens with some angular guitar play that sounds like 1980s U2. When the vocals enter the sound enters something more akin to punk's RAMONES bordering on THE AMBITIOUS LOVERS, but then after the singing ends around 3:30 there is a definite return to that aggressive 1980s U2-ish sound. The slowed down sixth minute sees the band pairing up two guitarists to play off one another exactly like Dickey Betts and Duane Allman (and, later, Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson)--even using twin interwoven melody lines that sound as if they're lifted from (and slightly varied) from music of the aforementioned guitar gods' original songs. The minimalist interweave of guitars and bass in the ninth minute is new--turning into something more akin to 1980s U2 in the tenth. This minimalist weave then continues to the song's end as the sound is manipulated from the engineering room into something more lysergic. A pretty decent jam song! (27/30)

4. "The Alchemyst" (12:30) spacey "distant horn"-like synths feel like they're prepping us for a deleted scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. After 90 seconds, guitars enter sounding like something from a DOVES or BILL NELSON album, but then the bass and cymbal-crashing drums. The fourth minute introduces another motif, this one sounding more like something from a 1980s band that's trying to stick more to rock principles--like maybe U2, The Stranglers, The Replacements, or even XTC or The Police. Those great Motorpsycho harmony vocals sing throughout, really hitting the spot. At 6:50 the music pauses as if the band is getting a start on a downhill descent down a steep rollercoaster. The guitar riff providing the glue that keeps the song rolling along gets a little tedious after three minutes. Great drumming all the way to the end of the "ride." Weird song whose parts do not necessarily all feel as if they belong (or work) together. (21.75/25)

Total Time: 59:30

An album of very blues-rock grungy sounding music that may intrigue and endear many hard rock holdovers from the 1960s while impressing only those who have the patience/tolerance for heavily-distorted guitar soundscapes.

B/four stars; an excellent collection of retro-blues-rock music drawing inspiration (and sound) from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (with a little 2000s thrown in for good measure). Highly recommended to any prog lover whose heart is strongly planted in the best psychedelic hard rock.

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