godbowl

Ah yes, of course, Sgt. Pepper is progressive in a certain sense... but in my opinion, there’s no point in dwelling on it too much. For me, progressive is when technique (often mere and vacuous virtuosity) is preferred, prevailing over expressive immediacy. Or perhaps it’s better to say that in the most successful prog albums, you achieve expression or impression, an atmosphere (rarely a feeling or an emotion) through the technique of an instrument. Fahey has immense technique but doesn’t flaunt it; in simpler terms, if you know something about guitar and look at his tabs online, you’ll notice they’re not that complex, actually. That’s the beauty of Fahey: he aims to achieve a "mystical" effect by working on simple sequences of figures, notes that repeat often throughout his career. In fact, in the title track, if you’ve listened to his earlier works, you’ll realize that no "progression" is new, but it’s clear that he has managed to harmonize into a single composition everything extraordinary from his previous works (especially America, Transfiguration, and Voice of the Turtle). Leo Kottke and occasionally Robbie Basho could fit into the broader definition of prog... but with Fahey, in my most humble opinion, it’s really a distortion of the meaning of his work.

Oh my god!!! You wrote progressive in the genres... I can't forgive you for this, Dante...! How could you do that????????

AND THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST REVIEWERS IN HISTORY...

I don’t know if it’s me living, but the rece (that I had in the incubator for a few months) is fantastic... You’ve truly honored our... this is its best... or at least the title track is the piece of music that, along with Sister Ray and Dark Star, I keep and cherish in my cool, precious cellars with the utmost pride and gratitude... thank you John, as always, for everything...

enthralling..

but are the three stars a mistake???

..that huge mouth is for singing or.....??

really excellent!

I heard it... and I reconciled with good old Sun Ra... really beautiful... but Atlantis seems more extreme to me...

..I didn’t even know them... :(