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Album Details

• Artist: Red Krayola
• Album: Parable of Arable Land
• Label: Collectables
• Year of Release: 1967
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-11-02

Red Krayola have recently reformed as a trio, with former minutemen drummer George Hurley. The one constant in the band's prolific, ever-changing explorations has been guitarist/writer Mayo Thompson. Thompson has consistently been one of the few artists who took the supposed green light to experiment freely that was the future preached by the '60's. Unfortunately, all but that handful of artists really meant it, the easy sellout of the sixties making the revolt of punk and rap necessary. This debut still sounds confident and fearless today. The extended jams of "Hurricane Fighter", "War Sucks" and "Pink Stainless Tail" build off the then-new psychedelic rhythms-fuzz guitar, organ, long held notes and inflections of world music-in a way that makes the genre seem as full of possibilities as advertised. Whereas Psychedelia was more often than not an excuse for shitty white blues bands like the Dead and Phish to cover up a lack of ideas, Red Krayoloa, right out of the gate, used the music to expand what was possible in a band format. The results are still astounding, and not for the faint of heart.

Reissued in 1993.

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