CAULDRON

Released in 1967 'Cauldron' belongs to the very early output of this genre and is characterized by the experimental approach of mastermind Louis 'Cork' Marcheschi. He developed instruments on his own with different components and the album is full of electronical gimmicks. So to say avantgarde psychedelic music coupled with a special emphasis on electronics.

Some shorter songs, or maybe interludes, are completely occupied by Marcheschi's uncanny weird tones. Others are mellow early psychedelia drenched with charming male and female vocals. For example If Not This Time which is anything but simply structured with excellent guitar work and accompanied by twittering synths. The Things That Concern You on the other hand is an example referring to the good old beat music era which was gradually fading away at that time. This could be treated as popular if there weren't Marcheschi's weird contributions and the highspeed end to which the song finally develops.

When Nancy Blossom sings I'm immediately reminded of the early Jefferson Airplane - but this is all presented in a more sophisticated way. The long track Fantasy might be the highlight of the production. Starting with repetitve playing instruments and then changing to an excellent more accessible jammming part. Last but not least a weird section follows with crazy female voices. And not to forget the title track Cauldron which is spiked with mysterious tones and samples plus deformed vocals sounding like they are on an hallucinogenic trip.

Some re-issues are existing in the meanwhile with bonus tracks. Remakes of two songs were added, released in 1990 as a single production for the first time. And Bad Trip was the first song Marcheschi ever had produced before Nancy and David Blossom joined his project. This uncanny song is pointing to his experimental approach as no other based on diversified electronics and a deep-toned bass line.

A very interesting production and differing to other genre output because of an avantgarde attitude not only caused by Cork Marcheschi's unusual electronic goodies. Ahead of time. Open-minded fans of early psychedelia output can grasp firmly if they dare to leave the familiar paths - 3.5 stars.