genre: psych
country: us
quality: lossless (ape, cue, log, scans)
time: 1:17'09" size: 376 mb
misc.: 1998
Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
Red Crayola were established in Houston in September 1966. line-up 'A' was very much embryonic. They began playing straight rock numbers like Hey Joe but by December 1966 they had developed the improvised music style - the Freeform Freak-out - that they are best remembered for. All interested parties were invited to perform in their shows and in effect a companion group (known as The Familiar Ugly) was established. When International Artists invited Thompson, Barthelme and Cunningham to record their debut album in March 1967 The Familiar Ugly were featured in the Freeform Freak-outs between each track. Quite aside from the Freak-outs the album included some very strange material - formless and improvised the psychedelia of tracks like Hurricane Fighter Plane (which Roky Erickson played organ on), Transparent Radiation (which Roky played harmonica on) and Pink Stainless Tail was very different to that of other texan bands of the era. On stage, too, the Red Crayola were very much an acquired taste. Lacking natural rhythms and structure their music was practically impossible to dance to. They were once paid ten dollars (to split three ways) and asked to leave a gig at the New Orleans House after 20 minutes! They were, however, invited to play at the Berkeley Folk Festival in the summer of 1967. Once again their performance did not go down well and the band fell apart with Thompson spending time in New York and Los Angeles. One of their live performances was released in the nineties as Coconut Hotel, but it isn't recommended unless you're into avant garde/ambient noises.
In 1968 Thompson and Steve Cunningham returned to Texas and along with a new drummer Tommy Smith, who had briefly played with Bubble Puppy, began recording their second album, which consisted of numerous one and two minute tracks of simple but experimental acoustic weirdness. They were now spelling Krayola with a k. Surprisingly perhaps, this album was even less successful than their first and the band became dormant for many years. They did apparently record a double album with guitarist John Fahey but the tapes were lost.
Mayo Thompson has continued to enjoy an active solo career. He fronted a temporary group called Saddlesore and recorded a solo album. He met Jesse Chamberlain in New York in the winter of 1974/75 and later reformed Red Krayola with Jesse as a two-piece. This line-up gigged in London in 1978. The band were signed by Radar who reissued (1) and (2) and put out (3), an album of new wave material. On (3) the two-piece was assisted by Lora Logic and Pere Ubu. Indeed Thompson went on to join Pere Ubu until they temporarily dissolved. Thompson has also worked as or with Art and Language who straddle his other projects, indeed Art and Language assisted on their fourth album Black Snakes which is full of Thompson's dramatic vocals and included Allen Ravenstine (of Pere Ubu) on sax and synthesizer.
Jesse Chamberlain is also a member of Necessaries and Steve Cunningham later played for Malachi.
01. Free Form Freak-Out I 1:32
02. Hurricane Fighter Plane 3:32
03. Free Form Freak-Out II 2:23
04. Transparent Radiation 2:34
05. Free Form Freak-Out III 4:19
06. War Sucks 3:53
07. Free Form Freak-Out IV 1:52
08. Pink Stainless Tail 3:13
09. Free Form Freak-Out V 3:02
10. Parable Of Arable Land 3:02
11. Free Form Freak-Out VI 4:11
12. Former Reflections Enduring Doubt 5:00
Rick Barthleme: drums
Steve Cunningham: bass
Mayo Thompson: guitar, vocals
The Familiar Ugly
Roky Erickson: organ ("Hurricane Fighter Plane"), harmonica ("Transparent Radiation")
13. Say Hello To Jamie Jones 2:31
14. Music 1:03
15. The Shirt 2:49
16. Listen To This/Save The House 1:35
17. Victory Garden 1:53
18. Coconut Hotel 1:26
19. Sheriff Jack 2:17
20. Free Piece 2:25
21. Ravi Shankar: Parachutist 2:10
22. Piece For Piano And Electric Bass Guitar 0:50
23. Dairymaid's Lament 2:34
24. Big 1:37
25. Leejol 2:44
26. Sherlock Holmes 2:57
27. Dirth Of Tilth 1:32
28. Tina's Gone To Have A Baby 1:50
29. The Jewels Of The Madonna 1:28
30. Green Of My Pants 3:03
31. Night Song 1:54
MAYO THOMPSON gtr, vcls
STEVE CUNNINGHAM bs
TOMMY SMITH
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