PRESENT FROM NANCY

Total genius. Some will tell you different, but I say a perfect album is NOT impossible. When I'm listening to Supersister's 'Present From Nancy', I can't imagine how it could possibly be better. I wouldn't want it to be any different than the way it already is. It's perfect enough.

Coming along in 1970, Supersister offered a debut of considerable depth, mixing the familiar Canterbury sound of a band like Caravan with their own brand of humor, a wide range of tones and sounds (the keyboards sound wonderful and the fuzz bass sounds even better!)...and a healthy taste for the perverse. Running order is a major consideration for a band once they've completed work in the studio, and 'Present From Nancy' is a marvel of faultless design, with a distinct beginning, middle and end, with climaxes, pauses, bursts of hyperactivity, diversions and calming moments placed in all the right places. The jazz-rock beginning of "Introductions" and "Present From Nancy" gives way to the grittier edge of "Memories Are New", which halfway through sinks into a deeper level of composition, signalling the twists and turns to come. The appropriately-titled "11/8" follows, a tense and intense display of jazz-meets-symphonic prog (in hell). "Dreaming Weelwhile" offers the first moments of solace, with a cosmic melody elongated throughout its 2:50 length drone. "Corporation Combo Boys" is silly, but thankfully short enough to be an acceptable opening to the album's second half...

"Mexico" is one of those songs that convinces me Trey Spruance and the rest of Mr. Bungle must have a thorough education in '70s prog. It rests on a rhythm not unlike some of Pink Floyd's best early-'70s epics, offering melody and dynamics that make you feel like you're in the deep Mexican desert at night. It sounds harmless on the surface but there's something sinister bubbling underneath (like much of Mr. Bungle's 'California'). "Metamorphosis" is 3:26 of proto-thrash, a jarring, relentless drum attack giving a firm foundation to the insane keys and bass that rape the ears in one of prog's earliest moments of proto-metal violence. "Eight Miles High" is a short play on the Byrds song, exploding in an abrupt death 20 seconds later, birthing the contemplative final track, "Dona Nobis Pacem". Awash in keyboard ambience, haunting deep-space harmonies move the exotic droning hypnosis along with purpose. It somehow seemelessly evolves into a circus-organ jig (all of a sudden I see clowns and those sickening orange marshmallow peanuts! Yikes!), then it floats back onto its former self. Some have called this part silly, but they way it's welded into the structure makes it more disconcerting than anything. This signals the end one of the most eventful and enjoyable prog albums I've yet heard. Highly recommended to fans of the Canterbury sound, symphonic prog, fusion, jazzrock, psych, and just plain weird music...Supersister does it all.