The Insect Trust
Dave Monroe
monropolitan at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 21 11:33:52 CDT 2004
Insect Trust -- Insect Trust (180 gram pressing)
(reissue) ... LP ... $10.99 (Item: 363168)
Capitol, Late 60s (Gatefold) Condition: New Copy
A sublime album from The Insect Trust -- a really
unique group who blended folk rock, jazz, and some
nice trippy Eastern overtones! The style's really a
great product of the time -- a cross-cultural late 60s
session recorded with a freedom from labels and
categories -- featuring instrumentation that includes
bottleneck guitar, soprano recorder, kalimba, banjo,
and a rich array of percussion -- all in support of
lead vocals from the lovely Nancy Jefferies. The sound
is wonderful -- experimental, but always tuneful --
and titles include "The Skin Game", "Special Rider
Blues", "Miss Fun City", "Declaration Of
Independence", "Mountain Song", and "Going Home".
(Nice heavy pressing -- in a gatefold cover just like
the original!)
http://www.dustygroove.com/rocklp.htm#363168
http://www.dustygroove.com/
Another late 60's and early 70's band indebted to
Pynchon was called "The Insect Trust." Its most famous
member was the noted writer, critic, and
ethnomusicologist Robert Palmer. Two albums, Insect
Trust (Capitol, 1968), and Hoboken Saturday Night
(ATCO, 1970), were produced. The music ranges from
surreal folk-rock, to pop-soul in the style of
Booker-T, to flat-out free jazz. It is the latter
style which is adopted on a song called "The Eyes of a
New York Woman," sung by Nancy Jefferies and
accompanied by a haunting jazz descant recorder solo
played in a true virtuoso style. The song's composers
are listed as Jeff Ogden and Thomas Pynchon, and the
lyrics are taken verbatim from V., where they are sung
by Benny Profane as he, Angel, and Geronimo are trying
to pick up some girls (V. [1963; rpt. New York: Bantam
Books, 1979], 127). When he sings his despairing song,
all the girls can say is: "It doesn't have any beat"
(128). Fortunately, "The Insect Trust" version has a
great beat. The whole piece is moody and lazy, just
like a hot Hoboken Saturday night, and you are lost,
perhaps, in the streets with the Whole Sick Crew,
where "The eyes of a New York woman/ Are the twilit
side of the moon."
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_music_insect-trust.html
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_music.html
And see as well ...
http://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/insecttr.html
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/i/I21.HTM
And, especially ...
http://www.furious.com/perfect/insecttrust.html
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