Sondheim, Alan / Ritual All 770 / Songs, The
Album: Songs, The   Collection:General
Artist:Sondheim, Alan / Ritual All 770   Added:Nov 2005
Label:Fire Museum Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2006-02-05 Pull Date: 2006-04-09
Week Ending: Feb 26 Feb 12
Airplays: 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 08, 2022: Buford J. Sharkley Presents: As Told to Hervey Okkles
1
3. Feb 09, 2006: Rock in a Position
2
2. Feb 20, 2006: Mad Flow
5

Album Review
Ben Wolfson
Reviewed 2006-02-04
On the Nurse with Wound list, this album did forty years ago in nuce what the MV & EE Medicine Show, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Wooden Wand, and other groups of that ilk are subjecting us to now, right down to the blues/americana obsession. And, IMO, these folks do it better. It's one long improvised performance, cut into ten tracks that go into one another, and it has that campfire chaos hippy feel, plus some freejazziness, esp in the horns and bass. Fairly indiscernible female vocals throughout, but no FCCs. Also, the whole thing is fairly poorly recorded. Most of the tracks are fairly similar to each other, so you can really pick whichever.

1: prominent cornet & violin, hand drums and wordless (seemingly) vocals, goes to
2: with a bass solo. This section fairly sparse at first. Ends "I woke up this morning, blues all around my head"
3: Lots of percussing going on, xylophone and trap kit. Jazzy solos from the horns, then female chanting: "achtung! schnell!", then male chanting that's harder to follow.
4: Some Spanish-style nylon-string guitar playing, unaccompanied.
5: Bluesy guitar, female vocals reenter, some kind of reed---jazzier here, then sparser, with siren-like sounds. A violin solo leads into louder and louder drums. Ends with the women saying "no! no! no!"
6: Bass & vox; the "no!"s continue. Prominent electric guitar towards the end.
7: Solo koto.
8, 9 and 10 are fairly standard, not unlike 1 or 3.

Track Listing
1. 1   6. 6
2. 2   7. 7
3. 3   8. 8
4. 4   9. 9
5. 5   10. 10