Search - The Electric Prunes :: Mass in F Minor

Psychedelic Roman Catholic Mass

Oswald Placeres | Netherlands | 07/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I always wanted to write a review on this CD. These guys with Mass in F Minor (1968 recording) were the first to record a Roman Catholic Mass in a psychedelic mood. Amazing how your mind can expand with these religious chants in Latin Lyrics, back then it was considered a taboo. However, Enigma, Era, Lesiem, Magna Canta, Delerium, B Tribe, Bjork, and Amethystium continued experimenting were this group left off. If you like psychedelic chants buy this CD. Also see the video "The Conquerors" from Adam& Eve adult movies agency. It will transport you and your partners to an exotic Island were anything goes. The Gregorian chants in the background and the exciting scenes will help your imagination do unlimited performances without any boundaries. I'll guarantee you will NOT BE DISAPOINTED!"

The only album of it's kind

TR707 | New York | 03/31/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I remember this band way back from the "Eazy Rider" soundtrack. I always liked thier version of Kyrie Eleison. This is a true psychedelic album, with it's fuzz guitars and free style jams. I would describe this as one of those Love it or Hate it albums. I think it is pretty good in the sense that it is the only album of it's kind. If you are a serious music collector, that collects albums for their musical significance as much as the quality of the music, this is a great addition. If you are looking to add some psychedelic music to your collection, this is not the best place to start. This is not really a 'Religious' album in the true sense, and if thats what you are looking for, you won't like this very much. All in all I like this album, it has a sense of weirdness that I find interesting."

Caveat Emptor for Prune Heads

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 12/16/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"David Hassinger built up a good reputation as a sound engineer, having worked with the Rolling Stones in their mid-sixties prime, and on early Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane albums. Unfortunately, for the Electric Prunes, he was primarily their producer and along with their manager Lenny Poncher regarded them as a purely commercial commodity, bringing in outside material for them to record with little regard for their own preferences or musical direction.



For their third album, he called in the composer David Axelrod who had been commissioned to write a psychedelic rock Latin mass for them, Mass In F Minor. To their credit, the band went along with this ambitious, if unexpected idea.



The Electric Prunes, though, being creative musicians but not necessarily the fastest interpreters of unfamiliar musical scores (and only one of them read charts), found themselves being sidelined by session musicians, hired by David Hassinger just three hours into the first day of the week-long session for the album. It turned out that the band didn't even own their own name and could be replaced with whoever he chose to employ for their records. By this time, however, they had already laid down tracks for the three songs on Side One, Kyrie Eleison, Gloria and Credo, which doesn't seem a bad rate for three hours work. Kyrie Eleison, it seems, had been completed, whilst reports vary as to how much of the other two feature the original band. However Jim Lowe and Mark Tulin's chant-like vocals feature throughout the whole album, augmented by Bill Henderson (brought in from the Collectors, a Canadian band also managed by David Hassinger). The rhythm section of Mark Tulin (bass) and Michael "Quint" Weakley (drums) was also retained for the whole album.



Session men involved included Richie Podolor, a guitarist who was also an engineer, and who owned the American Sound Studios where the album was made. A veteran of surf bands, he had also stood in for Chocolate Watch Band musicians on a number of their records. He and Bill Henderson replaced the Prunes' guitarists Ken Williams and Mike Gannon on most of the tracks, using Kyrie Eleison as the model for the style of further recording. Top L.A. session jazz player Don Randi added keyboards, and a cello quartet and french horn quartet completed the ensemble.



The resulting half-hour of six tracks didn't sell particularly at the time, but has stood the test of time surprisingly well. The Gregorian monk-like Latin vocals and fluid guitar work in the setting of a large ensemble flow with ethereal ease. It may have been conceived as a gimmick, a hip religious record for the kids, more in the service of Mammon than any higher calling, but it worked; for which credit is due to David Axelrod's composition. Ironically, the most successful and best known piece from the record is Kyrie Eleison, on which all Electric Prunes play, without added strings and brass, following its use in the soundtrack of the cult 1969 film Easy Rider, and on its successful album tie-in.



However, if you know the Prunes from their I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night period, take note that this is something very different both in concept and execution."