Aural Fixations

MUSHROOM
Glazed Popems
(Black Beauty)
Oakland's synapse-frying jazz/prog/funk/acid rock aggregation Mushroom has been threatening to deliver a masterpiece for years. With the two CD set Glazed Popems, the instrumental band has finally done it. Strangely, the group (led by drummer Pat Thomas with a small army of underground jazz and rock musicians, including underground horn legend Ralph Carney) succeeds not by uniting its various personalities into one seamless ego, but by separating them. Disk one focuses on the acid-drenched psychedelic side of the group. Thomas and company draw on everything from Canterbury style progressive fusion for "L'auberge" to floating psychedelic pop for "Isle of Wight," from oddly-cadenced faux-soundtrack music for "Half Sicilian - Half Welsh" to winsome acid folk for "(Hats Off to) Bert Jansch." Mushroom visits the British underground of the late 60s, soaks up the culture and brings it back to the US filtered through its own improvisational fortitude. If Miles Davis had collaborated with Soft Machine and the Incredible String Band on the soundtrack to The Wicker Man, this is what it might have sounded like.

Disk two leaves the pastoral countryside of Olde England behind and cruises the mean streets of Oaktown. The opening track "The Beards Are Back in Town" sets the pace, moving from snarling, dense funk to sedate, undulating mood music, as if the car chase was over and the winner was hitting the boulevard looking to party. The slithering "Running Wild and Looking Pretty" and the quirky "This Goes Squonk!" keep the groove greasy and ebullient, while giving the music a creeping avant garde edge. Not everything struts around in a multi-colored pimp suit, however. The ballad "Blues For Bobby Seale" oozes emotion, thanks to Erik Pearson's soulful sax, while "Tonight Let's All Make Love in Oakland" swirls sax, electric piano and guitar into a twilight-driven arrangement that gives the seductive melody an unexpectedly melancholy edge. The title track rides a lush melody that's like a sunset over the top of the city's tallest skyscraper. Sounding at times like a vintage soundtrack to a lost 70s black action film, at other points like a European experimental composer's vision of same, the second disk repurposes fusion as the backdrop for an urban tableau of blood, sweat and tears. Glazed Popems affirms that Mushroom is one of the most eclectic, ambitious and adventurous bands in America. Michael Toland [buy it]