PSYCHONAUT

It's always hard to get a handle on a band that reinvents itself for every album, but in truth the second LP from the Switzerland-based Brainticket was made by an entirely different group than the one that recorded "Cottonwoodhill" in 1971. Only multi-instrumentalist Joel Vandroogenbroeck remained from the original lineup; his erstwhile bandmates were likely still under medical care after surviving the borderline insanity of that earlier session.

Hearing both albums back-to-back (and they were packaged as such in at least one reissue) can be a tremendous letdown. The band's sophomore effort is a lot more inhibited than "Cottonwoodhill", but let's face it: outside of a tightly-knit straightjacket few things could possibly compare to such an extreme experience.

But just because the music was on a tighter leash is no reason to dismiss it. On its own terms "Psychonaut" is a more or less typical scrapbook of early '70s Head etiquette, complete with tablas, sitar, and Good Vibes, the latter an actual performance credit (along with "Strange Sounds"). Considered in isolation, the album is creative, unpredictable, and sometimes even exciting, from the heavy Krautrock-cum-early Tull jam in "Coc'O Mary" to the atypically haunting "Feel the Wind Blow" to the mildly lysergic flute curlicues in the opening "Radagacuca", later sampled (without acknowledgement) by fanboy Steve Wilson in his faux-LSD trip "Voyage 34".

The full effect never quite lives up to the album's awesome title or Bosch-like artwork. And the long shadow of "Cottonwoodhill" continues to linger over every note, even now. But that's okay: after such an untethered freakout the milder highs of "Psychonaut" can be a welcome relief.