DANCING MADLY BACKWARDS

This is actually a pretty bland album, and the few reviews I’ve read all seem to come either from former members of the band, family members, or other close friends. Axcraft clearly never made much of an inroad to the music community outside their immediate area.

This is also their only album as far as I know, and I don’t believe the band was in existence for very long either. There is very little information to be found about these guys, which leads me to believe they were a local band that made whatever living they managed by playing small venues and as an opening act.

The keyboards are not complex, but they are played in a typical seventies American style – i.e., fast, spirited, and pretty much in synch with the electric guitars. The drum work is decent at best, and the lyrics are mostly light and vaguely spacey in nature and theme.

There are some decent piano passages, notably at the beginning of “Astral Love” and a little bit on the title track. Otherwise this is a mediocre album, and pretty forgettable in the spectrum of seventies music.

There are a couple live tracks at the end that actually sound like they are open-air recordings, not even from the soundboard. I’m not sure if this is accurate, but in any case the recording quality is quite muddled and a definite distraction from the music.

I don’t know much about these guys, and frankly haven’t spent much time trying to find out much. Akarma released this on CD for some reason, but you probably won’t find it except by accident. Or if you make a real attempt to locate it, but don’t bother. Two stars.

peace