TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER

To the Highest Bidder replicates the upbeat, happy-go-lucky yet quite tight and complex instrumental weave as their previous album, their debut, Present from Nancy. The difference with To the Highest Bidder is that the songs are longer (three of the four songs are over seven minutes long) and there is a greater variety of keyboard instrument sounds used. But, like a SOFT MACHINE suite, the long songs seem more to be made up of a collection of short songs all spliced into one suite. There are some "songs" within the four titles that are eminently enjoyable, some laughable, many quite memorable. Overall all four songs earn five star ratings from me, though there are specific high points within the opener, "A Girl Named You" (10:11) (9/10) and the epic on Side Two, "Energy," that I would single out for praise.

2. "No Tree Will Grow (On Too High a Mountain)" (7:40) is founded throughout upon a drone of some kind of Tibetan/Tuvan-like overtone throat vocal. The Canterbury jazz music builds and builds--in tempo over the final 90 seconds. Though very Canterburian--especially the English vocal spoken/sung mid-song--there is a bit of a BEATLES psychedelia feel to it as well. (9/10)

3. "Energy (Out of Future)" (15:01) is another tom-based tribal sounding rhythm over which two very breathy, trilly flutes are playing their solos. At the two minute mark a new theme and style take over--reminiscent of the carnival song at the end of "Dona Nobis Pacem" on Present from Nancy. Then at 3:45 the band breaks into one of their happy up tempo grooves--over which a treated voice sings his psychedelic hippy lyric. Quite an infectious groove, this. I could listen to this all day! And feel happy and get so much done! A drum solo at the six minute mark has a kind of Pierre Van der LINDEN/FOCUS "Eruption"-just-before-"Tommy" feel to it (though, obviously, this came first.) The solo comes to an end to allow the buzz-saw organ to solo a bit before the Snoopy-theme piano melody returns and gets support from flutes and organ. At 8:55 the song devolves into a kind of scary carnival ride--fast-paced polka-like rhythm. But then in the eleventh minute it comes back toward classical--though the treated vocal sounds like a Circus Master speaking through a blow horn. The carnival merry-go-round sound starts up again, at first slowly but then rapidly picking up it s speed till it culminates in a crescendo crash of backwards tapes. What a trip! Psychedelia at its craziest! And this is what we get to the end! (9/10)

4. "Higher" (2:47) brings us back to Earth with a pleasantly jazzy pop vocal. (9/10)

Overall this album takes the listener on one wild ride! A perfect example of considerable Canterbury instrumental prowess with all of the psychedelia to well represent the era.