ZABRISKIE POINT

This has nothing to do with Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film of the same name, and instead simply music inspired by place in the California desert that bears that name. Actually, aside from the title track, the music was to be in the style of the title track (recorded during their DAS days) in time for their appearance on MTV's Party Zone (I just wondered how on Earth these guys ended up on that program given the largely teenage audience would have very little patience for this kind of music). The first two cuts were recorded in 1996, while the final cut was recorded in 1980 when they were called DAS and still in their teens. All this surfaced as an official release in 2000. This is one of their rare releases where they don't use the sequencers at all, so let the synths, guitars, and Mellotrons do the talking. The music really has this forbidding, sinister feel, depicting the desolate landscape of Zabriskie Point itself. You can almost imagine watching the namesake movie with the scene of Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin in the desert and play this CD. In fact, had the movie been made in 2000 instead of 1968 (it wasn't released until 1970 due to the controversy surrounding it), you can imagine RMI providing the music to the movie (rather than Pink Floyd, Youngbloods, Grateful Dead, Patti Page, Musica Elettronica Viva, etc.). A lot of the music has this sinister droning, with guitar and Mellotron popping up from time to time. The last track was recorded in 1980, back when they were called DAS. At that point, they were using a borrowed Roland SH-1000, but for some reason, despite the 16 year gap between this recording and the other two cuts, the music fits just fine. For some reason, along with Republic and Borrowed Atoms, Zabriskie Point seems to be one of the more difficult to find RMI titles, but if you can get it, do get it. It shows that the band works great even without the sequencers.