Search - Red Krayola :: Parable of the Arable Land (Spec)

Dated? Hardly

Nik Zero | 12/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Giving a record this important a three-star review and calling it "dated" really calls into question what exactly someone's business is listening to music. First off, the "Free-Form Freakout" sections between each song are brilliant and actually ADD to the overall feel of "The Parable of Arable Land." They're not hippie nonsense any more than were the free jazz explorations of Albert Ayer or Ornette Coleman. And what's more, the way each of these wild improvisations melts away into the actual song that follows is nothing short of breathtaking.



The SONGS on this record are all the better for having the balance redressed by pure noise; witness the way chaos subsides into the contrastingly calm, disconcertingly steady bass rhythm of "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and try not to feel like you've just heard something very important. By the time the chorus kicks in with its oceanic waves of organ, you can't help but follow the band wherever they're going next. A piece like "War Sucks" probably only sounds dated if you've been living on a glacier for the last four or five years and haven't seen a television or newspaper in that time.



In short, this album is a work of genius and is sadly unlike anything the band did afterwards (at least, from all the other records I've heard by them). This is not to say that the Red Crayola did nothing of value after their debut, simply to note that everything that followed took a completely different sonic direction and I personally missed their old sound a great deal."