CLOUD ABOUT MERCURY

1. "Suyafhu Skin... Snapping the Hollow Reed" (8:15) a song that opens with David's fretless guitar chords but then turns to a kind of Japanese/Chinese koto instrument with "distant" Mark Isham trumpet notes (very much in line with the sounds we've come to know and love from him on his own solo albums and soundtracks). David comes unnannounced at the 3:40 mark, renting a tear in the fabric of the universe with his chainsaw sword. In the background are flugelhorns and Bill Bruford's Simmons-generated minimalist percussion weave. I'm sure Tony Levin's been in there somewhere with is synth bass or ChapmanStick, but I never clearly detected his presence until the sixth minute. Bruford switches into a different set of programs for his drums (as well as looping some of his previous ones) while Torn slashes and burns his way through the skies. Amazing the kind of sound and tapestries that musicians can make! (18/20)

2. "The Mercury Grid" (6:32) Bill Bruford is in full Simmons mode though his cymbal play through the first minute is nice. Tony Levin's ChapmanStick is quite prominent but it's Mark Isham's trumpet that is the lead in the first four minutes. Then David takes over and takes down the music, leading the crew into mayhem and chaos. Wow! I was not ready for that! (9/10)

3. "3 Minutes of Pure Entertainment" (7:05) funny title for a seven-minute song! Isham's muted and effected trumpets give this an old-world kind of feel while Torn's sustained and bent chords play over Bruford and Levin's KingCrimsonian weave. David's guitar play is like someone put Adrian Belew on acid! Mark backs off for a while to give the listener full attention to David Torn's work, but then he comes back in the fourth minute. The further the music goes on (and the more "normal" the rhythm section begins to groove) the more the Adrian Belew comparisons seem totally appropriate. (14/15)

4. "Previous Man" (7:52) as much as I love acoustic instruments, I am so thankful for electricity for the fact that it gave me the musics of artists like these four (trumpeter Jon Hassell also comes to mind) to enrich my life. As much as this is a David Torn song--and he is fantastic on this--Tony and Bill really elevate this, but it feels like Mark is deserving of top billing: his trumpet play is so melodic and real. (14/15)

- The Network of Sparks : 5. "I - The Delicate Code" (4:50) lots of looping on this one; in fact, it feels like a solo piece by the guitarist on his own. (8.75/10)

6. "II - Egg Learns to Walk... Suyafhu Seal" (10:22) The first half of this song has the feeling as if four classically-trained jazz musicians walked into a room in which only electronically-enhanced instruments were available for them to play. I don't know the order in which the album's songs were created and recorded, but this song feels like the one in which all instrumentalists have not only clicked into sync with one another but also the first song in which all instrumentalists feel loose and relaxed enough to really let go and be themselves--while still feeling very tightly synchronized with each other. I can't think of a David Torn song in which he is so attuned., supportive of his band mates--to the degree that his interplay of chordal accents in the third and fourth minutes are astonishing! The second half sees the song degrade into a flotilla of outer space discombobulation, but that's all right: at least we had that amazing first half! Also, it's fun to see & hear how much of David Torn's sound and technical approach has stayed the same since 1987! (I'm referring to his work with Swiss Math Rockers, Sonar.) (18/20)

Total Time 44:56

It's really so difficult assigning ratings to any of this music because it is so foreign to anything the world has ever heard before. Even now, 35 years later, there so little music that I've ever heard to compare this to. At the same time I am so grateful for the mind-expanding magic these four artists have contributed to my life!

A-/five stars; a minor-masterpiece of mind-blowing music that could be called "future jazz"--even today!

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