CHRONICLES OF BUBBLEDROID

Clay Green's Polysorbate Masquerade Band have two albums of instrumental music available. This is the first album, the original release of "Chronicles of Bubbledroid". The music merges jazz fusion, with symphonic keyboards augmented by guitar. Clay Green plays all guitars skillfully, and he is joined by bassist Edward Richard, who is also terrific on bass, organ and other keyboards. The Bubbledroid is an effects player and drum machine.

There are many musical treats starting with 'Saturn's Orbit', that careers off into sporadic jazz metrics and is sprinkled with keyboards and riffing guitar that jumps out with angular rhythms, rounding things off acoustically with an Italian garnish, preparing us for a Hammond and a speedy lead guitar cacophony of sound. 'Frog Boy' has a quirky beat, even reminiscent of a fast paced 'Tarkus'. The organ is especially delirious, breaking into a strange choppy sig, and this sounds as if it was exiled from the 70s.

As I mentioned in the review for the expanded edition of the album, 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 keyboard jazz exploration played at a frenetic pace, but ends abruptly. 'Rough Landing', has some weird electronic keys with a computerised soundwave. It only lasts for less than a minute so it is not easy to get into.

The highlights are here such as the wonderful Hammond driven 'Sixty-Eight' and it moves along at a measured tempo with some guitar and Hammond embellishments. 'Time Sun' is the one to listen to if you are into exemplary lead guitar work; Clay's solos here are revved to the max with screaming string bends and fast arpeggios. The infectious melodic qualities are prevalent billowing forth on swathes of keyboard.

This is an expurgated version of the much longer and far superior Collector's Edition of the album, but it still has a fun vibe, quite harmless and uplifting melodies that jog the memory on repeated listens. Clay Green has brought to the songs a thematic quality, and they start with a palpable melody with specific instrumentation utilised, and this is later joined by a similar motif, with different instrumentation, all the while building on the melodic theme heard previous. The music is quirky, enjoyable, and experimental, at times reminiscent of 70s classic prog, at other times similar to Mahavishnu Orchestra or King Crimson. My pic is the longer version of the album but this is still a fun album with a lot to offer the listener.