BRIGHT SURROUNDINGS DARK BEGINNINGS

This is a live album featuring the Sun City Girls in their "power trio" configuration (electric guitar, bass, drums), playing largely instrumental psychedelic guitar-based music. With all the band's experimental/jazzy/poetry/noise efforts in their discography, it's nice to come across albums like this where they just rock out old-style. However, this disc definitely has its ups and downs... it's rare that I find any album that is start-to-finish brilliant by this band, and this album is sadly no exception to this rule.

"The Venerable Song (The Meaning of Which is No Longer Known)" is a side-long live version of a song also available on the "Kaliflower" studio album. And I'm sorry to say this, but it's a total drag. It's intended to be a spiritual/mantra number, very repetitive and filled with crazy shrieks and chants. But it just goes nowhere; worse yet, it often sounds like it's thinking of going somewhere, and then puts the brakes on and starts over at the beginning (or so it seems). Through the entire song, the guitar plays a single 4 note figure, one that's supposed to sound ominous, but by the time the song is half over I just want to shake the guy and wake him up. Maybe that's the point of the song... transcendental meditation achieved through numbing frustration. If so, consider this a huge hit.

Fortunately, the other two songs rule. Here is where guitarist Rick Bishop really shows what he can do, endless modal soloing that always seems to find new territory to explore. I hear a bit of Sonny Sharrock influence in his playing style. I'm also reminded of the early Amon Duul jams such as "Phallus Dei" and "Yeti". Charles Gocher (drums) and Alan Bishop (bass) provide a loose but powerful foundation, occasionally dazzling us with a particularly dexterous move.

Half painful, half transcendent. Sounds like a three to me.