Before There Was …
Label: Shadoks Music
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Before There Was …
The fine folks at Shadoks once again shine a light on a group that was obscure in the late ’60s psych scene and is completely unknown today. In fact, Before There Was … is so obscure, it wasn’t even an album; this disc collects unreleased recordings made by Time, a Buffalo group who peddled a gentle, well-crafted brand of psychedelia. Nurtured in the fringes of the counterculture, Time incorporates avant-garde and free jazz touches (and a lute!) into droney, anti-pop catchiness. Liner notes by the bassist are quick to point out that any tune in 4/4 time was rejiggered into more atypical tempos. Yet that forced unpredictability doesn’t diminish the lilting pleasure of these tracks. Though there’s little to distinguish Time from a dozen other little-known folksy prog acts of the time, it’s notable how much more musically advanced (and adventurous) this scene’s effluvia was when compared to our current detritus.
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2005.