CHRONICLES OF BUBBLEDROID (COLLECTORS EDITION)

Clay Green's Polysorbate Masquerade Band have two albums of instrumental music available. This is the collector's edition of their original release "Chronicles of Bubbledroid". In other words it is the same album as the first but with a ton of extra bonus tracks. Surprisingly a lot of the bonus tracks appealed to me even more than the other tracks. The music is kind of a mixture of jazz fusion, with keyboard domination creating a symphonic soundscape with some very nice guitar embellishments. The band consists of Clay Green on all guitars, and Edward Richard on bass, organ and other keyboards. The drum machine with effects is affectionately known as the Bubbledroid.

The pieces vary in style and at one stage we get a kind of Latin acoustic guitar vibe happening. I had to look carefully to keep track of the various titles as there are so many but a few stood out and made me reach for the track listing to see what it was. The pieces that I enjoyed the most are the opener 'Saturn's Orbit', a very jazzy off beat musical exploration of keyboards and guitar with jumpy rhythms and a cool riff, that ends with acoustic Italian flavours over a symphonic keyboard sound, then a freakout of fast lead soloing and Hammond shimmers, 'Plan 2', 'Piazz', both very catchy, and 'Return of Episode Xanadu', beginning with medieval organ and then moving to wah-wah lead guitar soloing, back to cathedral organ pipes. 'Time Sun' is also a gem

The tunes are nice and short for the most part so they don't wear out their welcome, and most have something that appeals. It is a kind of a quirky background music in places, and many pieces blend together so if you are not paying attention you are not sure where they finish. Some tunes are not long enough to fully enjoy, ending too soon and feel incomplete. For example, 'Shuffle Butt's Slow Down' is a breezy thing with keyboard solos over a fast tempo guitar rhythm but it fades too early to get into, feeling like half a song. 'Rough Landing', has odd electro keyboards sounding like a computer program, but does not build into anything lasting less than a minute.

But there is a lot here worth wrapping your ears around. 'Sixty-Eight' has great Hammond and a measured tempo with guitar phrases. 'Thanks!' Is quite a cheeky rhythmic melody sounding like the Bubbledroid is having too much fun, but I love the lead guitar break out. There are lovely harp sounds later, then it locks into a kind of jazz fusion feel, and it rocks out at the end with more glorious Hammond flourishes and guitar pizazz.

'The Zoo' plods along like an elephant and we hear one trumpeting, a nice touch, and it sounds like other jungle sounds in the mix over strong Hammond soundscapes. 'Time Sun' has some of the best lead guitar breaks, and really builds into an infectious hook with pleasant keyboard layers.

At the end of the album one can feel refreshed knowing they have heard some uptempo fun music with a quirky edge, and creative musical exploration. According to Clay Green, many of the songs are thematic, beginning with a discernible melody employing certain instrumentation, then a similar piece joins, utilizing different instrumentation, while developing the previous melodic theme. It is easy to hear these variations on each song and there are obvious experimental musical explorations throughout. In any case it is an enjoyable album and perhaps signifies even greater music to come in the future.