I tripped over this this evening... know nothing about it but was kind of stuck n struck after one listen. Like an acoustic Glimmer Twins (circa 'Exile') channeling Roky and the 13th Floor Elevators or something. I'm not sure. You tell me. I wanna know if you hate it or really hate it or want it played at your funeral or your enemy's funeral.
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Boa Constrictor and Natural Vine were a psych-folk duo who recorded this, their sole record, for Vanguard Apostolic. Given the current vogue for acid-folk I'm suprised this one is not better known. It has all the elements one looks for in that genre and few others as well. There are some really deranged, acid-drenched compositions like Devil & the Ace of Spades (with its backward tape loops, mornful sax, and downer guitar strumming) as well as dissonant, freaky, rocking, blues numbers like Time is Money. Their music, while it owes something to other folk-experimentalists from the late 60s is also inspired by classic, country blues and at times they come off as a sort of hippie ancestor of garage-blues-rock duos like the Bassholes or Black Keys.
The artist who did the cover, Phoebe Stone, went on to some success as a children's book author & illustrator. Unfortunately I don't know what happened to George & Ben, who recorded this masterpiece.
1 comment:
It's good to know how it may have gone down if Fred Neil had ingested more psychedelics. The interspersed field recs are a bit gratuitous, but that's picking nit and I'll give it a telepathic surgery pass. Devil & The Ace Of Spades is an instant classic in my home, but then again, I'm a sucker for sax. Overall, it's hitting my pleasure scenters in at least two or three spots, Mr. Clark. Stones falling from the 13th floor are always welcome.
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