THERAPEUTIC DREAMS

I have never had so much paper work, cdrs, posters etc. spread all around me for a review in my almost 20 years of doing this! More on that in the post script. BLISTERING MOMENTS was the project of Jim Leggett and Rik Wilson who were based in Texas. Rikky had worked in a record store from 1970 to 1981. And it was 1981 that Rik was invited to Jim Leggett's house to jam. A musical match made in heaven as they say. Jim had a Robert Fripp styled reel-to-reel frippertronics set up and they played, and it sounded great. Both were music collectors as well.

BLISTERING MOMENTS ended in 1990, but Jim and Rik would continue to work together in various projects from 1996 to the present. They originally named themselves SURGICAL II LS and self released 9 or so cassettes under that name. "Therapeutic Dreams" would get the attention of the label boss for Dead Man's Curve Records in London, England. He suggested they change their name, feeling it was too industrial sounding. Hence the name change to BLISTERING MOMENTS. I think it's ironic then that RYM has them tagged as ambient, drone, sound collage, minimal synth, progressive electronic and... Industrial.

There is a lot of audio samples on this album, but let's look at what the boys were playing during this recording. Jim adds a variety of keyboards, synths, roland organ/strings, mini moog, solina string machine, 2 mellotrons, gibson sg guitar and more. Rik adds conrad bass, wurlitzer organ, roland juno 106, farfisa organ, mellotron, various percussions, samples, and yes, a vacuum. They had stuff. "Therapeutic Dreams" is just under 47 minutes over six tracks, and the compositions were created between 1983 and 1986.

And while the notes, distortion, effects and presentation are distinctly psychedelic, they would open for artists from the avant- garde world and beyond. It's so cool they shared the same stage as Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper and the bands they were apart of at the time. From the humble beginnings of playing for 12 people at a record store to opening for some names including FAITH NO MORE, to being signed by a record label. And the liner notes were written by Dave Henderson, a significant voice in music from the UK at the time. They must have been proud.

Rik the artist designed posters for every upcoming show, more on that later. These two were so creative. A lot of experimenting for sure, to get to the final results. When a lot of people think of Texas, they think of religion and guns. And both are featured prominently on this record. "Night Prowler" opens with this sinister rhythm in a warm humid atmosphere. He's coming. Spacey synths will join in but man I really like that intense rhythm. "77Seven, I Guess" opens strangely with an audio sample before a preacher arrives followed by a heavy atmosphere and relentless gun fire. Reminds me of some of those early psychedelic PORCUPINE TREE albums, but this predates them.

"The Plat-Eyed Position" is an 11 minute tour de force. Spacey sounds to open as we hear footsteps and heavy breathing in atmosphere. This is powerful, almost overwhelming as far as the atmosphere goes. The sound will slightly change as this plays out leading to the preaching at 7 1/2 minutes which ends with "Will you listen to the crowing of the cock?" Next we get the sound of someone trying to start a car over and over. Just trying to get out of dodge. Back to previous sounds after 9 minutes.

"Bushwacker's Overture" opens with heavy gun fire and more as another preacher does his thing. Okay, this song had me giggling like a school girl many times. Usually when I played this at night while under the green spell. At first I found it annoying, but then the gun fire stopped and I just heard the preaching. It was when the gun fire returned the light went on. And I started laughing. And speaking of annoying the start of "Clean Thyself" where we get an official announcer declaring "R" words one after another. Then determined beats kick in. It all turns more powerful when the "R" words stop.

"Die Mutherfucker" is the almost 15 minute closer. Fast paced percussion sounds and more before turning experimental. This is "out there" at 3 minutes. All kinds of banging sounds, keys, vocal expressions and more follow. My music! The creativity on this record is off the charts. It's not perfect by any means but I'm proud to own this.

P.S. I was contacted by Rik Wilson a couple of years ago asking if I'd be interested in hearing the music from some of the projects he was involved with over the years. I didn't know Rik prior to this, but gladly gave my address. I was not expecting such a large package of cdrs, posters and information that he sent. Rik was an art teacher at one point in his life, but before that he was responsible for the cover art of all of his and Jim's albums over the years. The man is creative. So many ideas with not only the various cover art he's done, but the posters really meant a lot as well to me. The inventive ideas to get people out to hear them. A lot of humour too.

Rik is now based in North Carolina and his present project is B. WILDERED. He has his own studio and many releases under his belt. I'm honoured and proud that he dedicated a song from one of those albums to myself. From his "Illiop" record from 2024, we have a song called "New Grange(For John Davie)", that's me!

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