Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci: “Sometimes the Father is the Son” (1997)
The gently psychedelic acoustic folk of Welch band Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci seems to belie its era of origin. I hear in it the sound of Donovan’s mid-to-late 60’s album tracks, or Irish duo Tir Na Nog’s work from the early 70’s. Certainly it bears more resemblance to the music of those decades than what 90’s Britpop typically produced.
Thus they make a great find–in an unlikely place–for fans of the British “mushroom folk” of decades gone by.
This one’s pretty personal for me. Strawbs, who combined British folk with progressive rock then layered it with spiritual ponderings, are one of the most unjustly overlooked bands of the 1970’s and one of my handful of favorite bands of all time.
I was exposed to them at an impressionable age, and make an impression they certainly did. Songwriter Dave Cousins was never one to follow a prevailing trend or musical style. And his stuff is built on sturdy prose–a la Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull–that gives it a more timeless feel than much of his contemporaries’ work. Some classic rock just sounds…more classic.
The wanderer has far to go Humble must he constant be Where the paths of wisdom lead Distant is the shadow of the setting sun
Bless the daytime Bless the night Bless the sun which gives us light Bless the thunder Bless the rain Bless all those who cause us pain
Yellow stars may guide the way All diversions lead astray While his resolution holds Fortune and good will will surely follow him
Bless the free man Bless the slave Bless the hero in his grave Bless the soldier Bless the saint Bless all those whose hearts grow faint
Tanzanian-born UK-based singer Lulu James combines obvious vocal talents with dark, electronic arrangements for a mesmerizing sound. With only a few singles released so far, she has fans clamoring for a full-length debut. No word yet. But the future looks bright and she’s just getting started.
This punk pop-influenced Danish trio might bring to mind the Vines or the Fratellis. Their second album tones down the anger some from the debut and polishes up the sound and the hooks–possibly disappointing some of their more punk-leaning fans, but hey–a band’s got to survive to be relevant, right?
One thing is clear: the album’s first single, “Harlem”–about a fling singer David Boyd had with a girl from Spanish Harlem–is a rousing, contagious bit of fun. And so is the video.
Funnily enough, I was just recently thinking (and feeling a little guilty for) how little use I have for Bonnie Raitt’s particular brand of roots rock. I always feel a twinge of guilt when I’m not partial to a critical favorite–like there must be something I’m missing or am too uncouth to appreciate. But no, I’m pretty comfortable with the idea of not loving “Love Sneakin’ Up on You”, and can live quite happily without Raitt’s slide guitar-infused covers of “Right Down the Line”, “You Got It” and “Thing Called Love”–I prefer the original in each case.
However…
I’ve been exposed to a most non-Raitt sounding Raitt song continually over a period of months via the loop of easy listening pop that plays where I work. And one day it finally hit me what a beautiful song I was listening to. To be honest, I was pretty sure it wasn’t Bonnie Raitt but k.d. lang I was listening to. To me at least, “Fearless Love” sounds exactly like something from lang’s excellent Ingenue album. The quietly affecting melody, the unusual chorus harmonies, most definitely the arrangement–even Raitt’s singing all mimic lang on this song. It’s uncanny actually.
It’s nice to be wrong once in a while. Doesn’t make me love the rest of Bonnie’s catalogue any more than I already don’t. But for these four minutes, the lady has surprised and delighted me.
Come my love Come bravely to me Let your heart be still
For our time Has come my tender one To be free of will
And fly Blind on fearless love Let them wild winds blow
We’ll shine On all we’re fearful of Then we’ll let it go
Skippin’ stones Across the great unknown Safe at water’s edge
Don’t look down, baby We’re gonna leave this losin’ town Leap out from the ledge
And fly Blind on fearless love Let them wild winds blow
We’ll shine On all we’re fearful of Then we’ll let it go
Fly Blind on fearless love Let them wild winds blow
We’ll shine On all we’re fearful of Then we’ll let it go Let it go
Sometimes it just works out that one of an artist’s best works never follows one of the paths through to legacy status. People who either actually owned Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album on vinyl or are big enough fans to have purchased it in a more recent format probably agree that the album-opening “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” medley is among Sir Elton’s finest moments.
Similarly, “Fire on High”, the instrumental curtain-raiser on ELO’s fine 1975 release Face the Music, is a definitive Jeff Lynne/ELO song.
But the two major threads a pop song can follow to a timeless popular status (think “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Hotel California”) are continued radio airplay and inclusion on Best-of compilations. And although “Fire on High” got FM airplay in its day (as opposed to actual top 40 radio airplay, which was on the AM dial in 1975) you don’t really hear it on the oldies formats today. And as for being included on greatest hits collections, well, since it was never a single in the first place, the people who compile such collections don’t seem to think it merits inclusion.
In other words, ELO fans from back in the day most likely remember it. But to the younger generation fans–those who came to the band via a greatest hits collection or digital downloads of such perennials as “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”–this is probably unfamiliar. If so, enjoy! And do check out the catalog further. Face the Music, A New World Record and Out of the Blue represent the band’s peak. And all three contain great album tracks to be explored.
Electric Light Orchestra were much more than their hit singles.
Every Moment Has A Song 