THE LIVING SOUNDS

An instrumental voyage through various points of view - or "What It Means To Be Prog?". Extremely long compositions means elongated tracks, a lot of repetition, but mostly it just serves these exploration purposes. The music itself varies from glorified "tuning-like" sounds, through some Post-Rock-ish like moments to Avant-Gard.ish disharmonies of a funny kind (you will know when you hear it) + some normal "Rock" parts, usually with a twist. When, in the 1/3 of Part3 some late 60s organs suddenly started playing, I wasn't surprised. Variability, that's what you have to expect from this record.

It fits together quite easily, because it doesn't. Easy way to avoid consistency needs, right ? A lot of seemingly unrelated parts (forget Parts 1-4, it's more like Parts 1-40), but when thinking about the record in its entirety, it suddenly works. Quite an achievement and I like it that way.

Peace.

And so starts my education on Canada's best kept prog secret MAHOGANY FROG. I have six of their studio albums beginning with "The Living Sounds Of Mahogany Frog" from 2003 which was self released and recorded live in studio on September 10, 2002. These guys are like the DJAM KARET of the north. I just remember the few ratings for that American band and the lack of appreciation in the mid 00's when I got on this site, but that did eventually change after many years. Very few ratings for MAHOGANY FROG's albums except for 2012's "Senna" which is ten times more than the rest. Not sure why but it is the one album of theirs that is highly rated so that may be all it is. These guys are originally from Saskatchewan but moved to Manitoba just after this release. I still can't believe Canada has a prog band out in the praires. What? We've had some very good musicians come from out there like Neil Young and BTO but prog seems to be Quebec's thing.

This album would feature their largest lineup as we get six musicians on here while they will go with four and sometimes with guests the rest of the way which includes their new album "Faust" from 2022. Still kicking with three of the four members on that new album playing on here some 20 years earlier. These guys know how to layer sounds and they love the distorted bass and guitars while electronics adds another layer. We get tenor sax and trumpet on here too while the variety of keyboards includes electric piano, farfisa organ and synths. This album is the musical interpretation of a civilization that has existed for a thousand years then implodes. A history of war and peace and good and bad the band try to convey that instrumentally. No titles to guide us in this unfortunately as the tracks are just numbered. Maybe they want us to really use our imaginations(gasp).

Man we get two tracks over 22 minutes in length which forms the core while the opener and closer are more in the 10 minute range. The closer is actually a few seconds long but I'm not counting that one. "One" opens with water sounds that will continue for almost 6 minutes and other samples arrive like animal noises and birds but they all end 6 minutes in. Love that psychedelic guitar and bass line. Sax and trumpet join in around the 3 minute mark and the horns get dissonant. "Two" is 24 1/2 minutes long. It kicks in right away with all these sounds hitting us but I love when it settles after 2 minutes with that guitar that echoes with bass and spacey synths. Sax and drums join in as well. Themes are repeated until a change before 6 minutes as they amp it up but then it settles again as it trips along with sax too. A change after 16 minutes and it ends with dissonant horns and chaos as it kicks back in hard with sirens and war sounds.

"Three Part A" is 22 1/2 minutes long and is uptempo right out of the gate. Impressive! It calms right down before 2 minutes and it's dark. Outbursts come and go and there's this underlying intensity. Post Rock is the word then it builds after 5 minutes. So powerful after 5 1/2 minutes, oh my! It brightens and lightens after 7 minutes then we get that farfisa bringing Canterbury to mind. Sax and jazzy sound follows as it trips along. Electric piano as well but the farfisa and sax end it. "Three Part B" ends it besides the few seconds on that closer called "Four". Acoustic guitar, beats and bass before the focus changes to the drums and organ before 2 minutes. The tempo picks up then it kicks in hard with guitar before 3 1/2 minutes. Drums lead the way before 7 minutes then it explodes after 7 1/2 minutes before settling back as contrasts continue.

This might be too proggy for it's own good. Post Rock, Psychedelic, Jazz, Canterbury, Experimental and more. It really is a journey through time, through history.