APPARITION

This is the 19th Mutiny in Jonestown studio album and similar to some other previous releases, spans a wide range of styles and subjects. With 17 songs, it has the highest song count since 1992's, 'Hamburger Fish & Fried Chicken Chips'. For example, the opener, 'Recercar' is a 15th century Italian lute piece accompanied with mellotron followed by a cover of the Jimi Hendrix blues showcase, 'Red House'. You can't really go more opposite ends of the historical guitar spectrum than that.

The next block of songs yield several available on the compilation album, 'Anthology III 2003 - 2014'. The 3rd through 6th songs, 'Pidgeon Prelude', 'Pidgeon' and 'Post Pidgeon Stress Disorder' are linked together and appear on the compilation as the 7:19 long guitar driven, bittersweet song about stopping the inevitable loss of someone close, 'The Pidgeon Suite'. 'This Time' is yet another song about a similar loss and the doubt about the ability to carry on alone. While the topic is similar, this musical background is quite different being more mellotron based with some very slippery slide guitar work. The lyrics end with, 'I don't need her or any cure, this time. I don't need her I'm now secure, this time. I don't need her, I'm not so sure this time.' The final album track on the compilation is 'Future Unknown'. A very odd song again about loss and the uncertainty that follows. Once again, a similar topic is treated with a completely different musical approach.

On reflection, all the lyrics on this album appear to focus on loss or the threat of inevitable loss, imagined or real.

The remainder of the album is made up of a group of disjointed pieces winding in and out of the vocal ones and centered around the electronic music based 11 and a half minute instrumental piece, 'The Pleasure Faith of Oz'. Every one of these instrumental pieces doesn't hit the mark, but most make for an engaging listen. The album comes to a close with 'racreceR' which is the 15th century Italian lute piece that opened the album played backward, yet again with mellotron accompaniment. Overall, the mood of this album (both lyrically and musically) is very sad and dark which I think is partially a reflection of the times it was recorded in. America circa 2004 was a strange place to be...still attempting to come to terms with the events of 9/11, engaging in a multiple front war with no end in sight, a recent crash of the stock market without any appreciable recovery, and an overall uncertainty of the future.

The BandCamp version of this album doesn't include the cover version of "Red House" or "Long Long Long", which strangely makes the album much more cohesive from a prog standpoint. Since I consider the original version 2 stars based on the PA guidelines, and the BandCamp edited version a 4, I'll meet it in the middle and go with a 3 star rating.