Music Banter - Mu - Mu (1971)

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This is a discussion thread for Mu's self-titled album. It was homework in the Prog & Fusion album club in March 2011.

Here's a description!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater (Post 788605)

Mu – S/T (1971)

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6449/54999807.jpg

"Captain Beefheart's #1 slide guitarist playing some killer psychedelic blues with friends."

1. Ain't No Blues (4:08)
2. Ballad Of Brother Lew (4:34)
3. Blue Form (4:09)
4. Interlude (1:59)
5. Nobody Wants To Shine (4:12)
6. Eternal Thirst (9:38)
7. Too Naked For Demetrius (2:36)
8. Mumbella Day (3:24)
9. The Clouds Went That Way (3:10)

The world is full of questions that may never be answered: Where do we go when we die? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? Dude, where's my car? What would Captain Beefheart's Magic Band sound like doing psychedelic/jazzy rock?

We may never get to the bottom of most of those inquiries, but the last of them is brought to light in a spectacularly trippy fashion here on Mu's extremely rare yet fucking amazing 1971 debut, featuring Jeff Cotton from CB on slide-guitar and saxophone, as well as a host of other amazing musicians such as Merrell Fankhauser on vocals. Fun and fantastic while still retaining a very tight experimental edge, this is a work very different in feel and approach to most of Captain Beefheart's menagerie of records, but stands out more than anything Jeff Cotton did with Don Glen Vliet in some places in the sheer grooves issued, but never to the point where you forget to be engaged in what you're listening to.

Don't be fooled by the "blues-rock" tag either; this is a finely varied effort across the map, tipping its hat off to folk and art-rock even while it picks away to a West Coast sunset from 1967 with some sax crying out toward the rising night. Typical blues-bars will suddenly expand into odd time signatures without backing out any inch of melody or lick, a testament to the skill of Cotton and living proof that such a fantastic combination of elements and genre-fusion don't come around very often. This is best illustrated on tracks such as 'Nobody Wants To Shine' and the 9-minute cruncher 'Eternal Thirst', the latter of which morphs into something like Afro-pop midway through and only gets better as the minutes tick on by.

Ultimately, Mu's self-titled does a lot of things right and pretty much nothing wrong. It's got a bit of crossover appeal for nearly everyone, from folks who love the avant-garde to people who go nuclear for the blues and psychedelic rock, sitting at a wonderfully balanced happy place between some of Beefheart's more impenetrable songwriting and some of the more straightforward, dynamic energy that's seen more often in Krautrock and progressive rock circles.
:)

So, whatcha think?

First of all, great review. Anteater you impress me. I need to listen to the album to tell you want I think, I'll post once my internet speed is back up again!

If you think Prog Rock is about self-indulgent rock bands experimenting with grandiose classical effects or incomprehensible jazz, then you might not recognise Mu as being Prog Rock at all.This is more like Grateful Dead than ELP, with a collection of well-crafted, unpretentious songs that stay rooted in rock, but are innovative enough to be consistently interesting.

As we`d expect from Jeff Cotton, there is a lot of tight and tasty slide guitar work, sometimes funky, sometimes trickier to follow. As Anteater suggests, I think the only departure from a conventional rock band lineup is the bonus of Jeff Cotton on saxophone, which is held back until halfway through the third track, where it suddenly comes in as a very welcome surprise.

Eternal Thirst is an extraordinary track that makes me wish that Mu had pushed the envelope and experimented a bit more elsewhere on the album. There are two short instrumental tracks, for instance, which imo could`ve easily gone on much longer. A personal first-impression favourite is The Ballad of Brother Lew with it`s off-beat story and intriguing lyrics. Speaking of lyrics,the words to Nobody Wants To Shine, which includes the exhortation," Look at the sun ... Brother we are one ", although well-meaning enough, sound a little dated today. But that is not true of the album in general; it`s a great album and a pleasure to listen to - thanks Anteater.

Instrumentally, this pretty much is Beefheart without Beefheart. That's not a bad thing though. One of the biggest issues I've always had with Beefheart(of the very few) was that the instruments were always mixed very quietly. It's nice to hear the actual instrumentalists of the Magic band with some breathing space over the infamously tyrannical slightly egotistical Don Van Vilet. No offense to his genius which I'd attest to but the guy did historically have an obsession with his voice not being heard so he tended to force everyone to mix things down.

With that said, it's not quite the same. And albeit I'd never put this up with classics such as "Safe as Milk", "Trout Mask Replica", and "Lick My Decals Off" with Beefheart. It definitely does not discredit it as a solid album from beginning to end. The vocals were interesting. A lot more conventional, but not particularly bad. Obviously lacked the charm of Mr.Vilet but were very fitting from song to song.

Solid album. Nice for Magic Band enthusiasts. Not particularly excelling.