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Tamam Shud - Goolutionites and the Real People CD (album) cover

GOOLUTIONITES AND THE REAL PEOPLE

Tamam Shud

 

Crossover Prog

3.86 | 29 ratings

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sl75
4 stars Goolutionites still basically continues in the west coast acid rock style of the previous album - they still hadn't really crossed over into full-blown prog, although the addition of Tim Gaze to the band gave them the instrumental chops to carry the band into more ambitious territory in the years to come. Goolutionites is nevertheless a great album, a huge improvement over Evolution. Lindsay Bjerre's social and environmental concerns were coming to the fore in his lyrics, and for this album he put together a loose song cycle excoriating the selfish andwasteful lifestyle and repressive politics of mainstream society, and celebrating the virtues of nature and the new values of the counter culture. There are further explorations of unusual song structures on tracks like "Goolutionites Theme" and "Heaven Is Closed", while Tim Gaze's lead guitar drives the band to greater instrumental achievement on tracks like "I Love You All, "A Plague" and "Stand In The Sunlight". The gorgeous ballad "Take A Walk On A Foggy Morn" is possibly my favourite Tamam Shud song. This version of the band broke up almost immediately after the album was recorded, with Gaze and Davidson joining Kahvas Jute. Bjerre & Barron (eventually rejoined by Gaze) immediately took the band in a very different direction - lighter, jazzier, and proggier. Unfortunately, they were never allowed to record another album.

Quick note about editions. On the original pressing, "They'll Take You Down On The Lot" finishes with a quick descending four chord progression, a brief drum solo, and finally one of those rock and roll endings where everyone plays at once until a final drumbeat. On both of the official CD releases, this ending is cut short at the end of the drum solo. There are pirate CDs circulating which have the full ending. On the other hand, the Aztec re-release includes loads of bonus tracks - all their subsequent official releases (the Bali Waters EP and the contributions to Morning Of The Earth), and some rare live recordings from late in 1971. This was Tamam Shud's best period, so it's great to have so much of it finally available on a single CD - now if they could have included "America" from the GTK Tapes it would have been perfect.

sl75 | 4/5 |

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