Take Flight

Found this obscure longhair college compilation this December in a junk store back east, and was really pleased with some tracks on here, as well as that unruly monster bird adorning the jacket! Montgomery Community College has other LPs, as I understand it, but this one has stayed buried longer for some reason. Hailing from what would seem like the winter of '74-'75 come 9 stoney moss-covered pieces of tranquil atmospheric hippie folk. Really nice stuff, overall. Love the opener by Samuel John McCullough Jr. which reminds me of the magnificent Jackdaw LP by Larry Conklin, Diana Donahue's "Colors in the Wind" is a great comp-able piece of haunting female folk-psych, Paul Franzo's guitar soli instrumental is actually kind of devestating in the context of the album's play-through (2nd to last song) - just takes it nicely to a space beyond voices and narrative like you're leaving behind all that for a higher reflection into something else, and finally the ultra-light-Deadhead-panache of "The Drifter" by Mitch Schuck - the only cut that really breaks out into electric rock though granted it's super subtle and a treat if you like low-key doped local Dead-sound-alikes. Perfect atmosphere for a record like this, and a good one for this time of the year when it seems like everything stalls and your mind wants to freeze up like the rest of it... Cheers, J


Colors in the Wind by Diana Donahue