Live 1967 (Red Krayola album)
| Live 1967 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | July 28, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | June – July 1967 at Venice Beach, Los Angeles and at the Berkeley Folk Festival, Berkeley, California | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock | |||
| Length | 108:41 | |||
| Label | Drag City | |||
| Producer | Kurt Von Meier, The Red Krayola | |||
| The Red Krayola chronology | ||||
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Live 1967 is a live performance album by the experimental rock band Red Krayola.[1][2] It was released in 1998 by Drag City.[3] The two-disc set comprises the band's performance at the Angry Arts Festival in Los Angeles as well as their sets from various shows at the Berkeley Folk Festival during summer 1967.[4] Like all the music played at the festivals, it is dedicated to the troops positioned in Vietnam.[5]
Background
Kurt Von Meier, a University of California art-history professor, became interested in the band after he heard tapes containing Coconut Hotel, Red Krayola's rejected second album. He was intrigued by the band's experimental and free-form music and invited them to perform at Angry Arts Folk Festival in Berkeley and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in June and July.[5] Meier also pushed to get the band to play in the Monterey Pop Festival, but was turned down by the festival's organizers.[6]
Recording
Mayo Thompson had this to say about recording the album: "Live 1967 is what we were doing around that time. When we'd go to play live, it was not with the purpose of making terror — it was with the purpose of the artist as the agenda. This is on the menu tonight, what do you think of that. When we were in California, we borrowed a machine, a 3M stereo portable machine that was really cheap. [We used] that kind of bronzy colored, real thin tape, and recorded on both sides. And just did it very primitively — had a couple of microphones and just put 'em there, and let the frequencies sort themselves. We learned that that would happen by doing The Parable of Arable Land. We knew that we would be alright. We were satisfied also with the sound, it just worked out. We dragged this tape recorder with us for the 3 or 4 or 5 days that we were there and recorded everything."[7]
Performance
The music played by the Red Krayola during their sets was completely instrumental and consisted of improvised drone and electronic music, comparable to early Velvet Underground.[4] The first disc contains the band's performance at the Angry Arts Festival on June 6, 1967. The second disc is made up of three separate performances which took place in the evenings between June 27 to July 4. During the festival, the band met the folk guitarist John Fahey, who accompanied the band onstage for an improvisation session.[8][9] On the 4th, the announcer mistook the Red Krayola's music for an equipment malfunction and continued to talk several minutes into the band's set.
Mayo Thompson had this to say about the lost John Fahey album they recorded with him: "We recorded with Fahey in Sierra Sound, we went and did like 2 hours worth of 16-track recording of the same kind of stuff, of him doing our thing. He knew what we were doing, it was his thing — he was doing the same thing. We came to California and we were asked, 'Who do you want to meet?' and we said John Fahey, he's the only one. And they said 'John Fahey, that's interesting.' So happened that the guy we were staying with knew him, so we were able to meet him, and have John sit in with us, but those tapes were lost, alas. They were done 16-track [at] Sierra Sound. I don't know what kind of stuff he had at the time, very early 16- track. All that West Coast bunch were friends of John's, we didn't know anybody."[10]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [11] |
These performances received mixed responses from audience and critics alike. Berkeley's underground newspaper, the Berkeley Barb, dismissed the band as being the "bummer of the festival." Some of audience accused the music of being so abrasive that it was the direct cause of a dog's death during the festival.[6] However, some of the audience appreciated the band's feedback-laden sound, some of whom can be heard chanting "More! More!" at the end of the band's performance on the 4th whilst others in the same audience were shouting out "Boo! Boo!".
In reviewing the two-disc release, the music critic Richie Unterberger noted his admiration of the band's dedication to experimenting in-front of an audience who expected more conventional music. He gave the album two out of five stars, writing, "The Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd, however, rarely stuck with this kind of inaccessible freakiness for more than a few minutes at a time on record, even at their most willfully obscure. This is all inaccessible freakiness."[4]
Covers
On Thursday the 24th of October 2019, Lisson Gallery New York hosted a night of performance, discussion and music inspired by the pioneering work of Art & Language and their 40-year collaboration with The Red Krayola, at the event Jason Pierce (J. Spaceman) & John Coxon covered the entirety of Live 1967 and released as J. Spaceman, John Coxon – Play The Red Krayola Live 1967 in 2021.[12]
Track listing
All music is composed by The Red Krayola
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Venice Pavilion Concert, Afternoon" | 27:03 |
| 2. | "Venice Motel, Evening: Piece One" | 12:35 |
| 3. | "Venice Motel, Evening: Piece Two" | 4:16 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "7/2, Evening: "Dust"" | 27:46 |
| 2. | "7/3, Afternoon: Red Crayola with John Fahey" | 22:53 |
| 3. | "7/4, Afternoon: Jubilee Concert at Hearst Greek Theatre Radio Broadcast on KQED/San Francisco" | 14:08 |
Personnel
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References
- ^ Jasinski, Laurie E. (February 22, 2012). Handbook of Texas Music. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9780876112977 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Thompson's twins". Dallas Observer. June 17, 1999.
- ^ Kenny, Glenn; Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira (2007). "Red Crayola". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Unterberger, Richie. "Live in 1960s". Allmusic. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Miller, Bruce (June 2, 2006). "The Red Krayola: Outside The Lines". Magnet. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ a b "The Story So Far of the Red Crayola & the Red Krayola" (PDF). press@dragcity.com. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
- ^ https://tapeop.com/interviews/16/mayo-thompson/
- ^ Corbett, John, Special to the Tribune. "NEW SHADES OF THE RED KRAYOLA". chicagotribune.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "John Fahey". Pitchfork.
- ^ https://tapeop.com/interviews/16/mayo-thompson/
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6. MUZE. p. 806.
- ^ "Watch now: Art & Language - Letters to the Jackson Pollock Bar in the Style of the Red Krayola".