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dankrsta · 10-28-2010, 12:12 PM

from NumberNineDream

The Mandrake Memorial - Puzzle (1969)

From the moment I saw this Escher(esque) cover art, title 'Puzzle' and the band's name that was strangely familiar and mysterious, I knew I was about to hear some real hidden gem. I heard much more. Despite my love for 60s psychedelic rock and many bands from that period, I've never encountered Mandrake Memorial before. This is their third and last album described as their most ambitious, psychedelic and even progressive work. Because of my incredible experience with this one, I will definitely check out the previous two albums, although they're supposed to be quite different, more traditionally song oriented. I'm hoping they too have the same magical feeling.

This album seems to be conceptual, but the concept is a puzzle. I have no idea what it is, but it's undeniable that it's there. Maybe that's the point. It can be said that the more song oriented psychedelic rock tracks are interspersed with preludes, snippets of songs, chants or abstract passages and they all more or less pour one into another. There's a song 'Just a Blur' in three versions, except it's not really a song, more like a theme, a passage that ties all these other sounds and images together and closes the album. What does this reoccurring song adds to the concept in terms of ideas I don't know, but with a title 'just a blur' so in line with 'puzzle', it adds to the overall mysterious feeling of the album. I think aesthetic, sensational concept here is just as, if not more, important than that of ideas.

The album has 15 songs and I feel that it's divided in two parts. The first part opens with 'Earthfriend Prelude', a very spacey piece of music with a strong solemn and classical feel that flows right into the 'Erthfriend', a great psychedelic, space rock song with some magical keyboard and guitar work, one of the best on the album. After the first appearance of 'Just a Blur' theme, we're in for another treat, a song 'Hiding' (this is the one #9 used to lure me into this album

). It's another highlight, a more traditional psychedelic song that has strength not only in layered, floating instrumentation, but especially in vocal. It's the same male vocal I first heard in 'Erthfriend', but it especially shines here. I really cannot describe how enchanting this voice is and how deeply vulnerable it sounds while producing strangely elusive, uncatchable melodies. It has a certain familiar quality in its folkish style but that's just a hook. The more you listen the more you feel like it's not from this world.

The second part of the album is where things started getting weird and unexpected. 'Kyrie' is like a Gregorian chant; 'Vulcano Prelude' with it's incredible tension and chorus sounds like something from The Omen soundtrack, but ends in guitar noise; 'Whisper Play' has psychedelic, noisy and abstract sounds married with fairy-like, baroque female voices and symphonic passages; 'Children's Prayer' is a baroque boys multi-voice choir that dissolves into guitar noise again. Even more traditional songs like 'Ocean's Daughter' and 'Volcano' have this mysterious and unsettling feeling, a danger of falling apart. The central piece of this part of the album is a 9 min long 'Bucket of Air', an instrumental epic that in many ways defines the whole album with its layered, spacey and above all unpredictable quality worthy of the early Pink Floyd. All it needs to be perfect is that magical voice

. But that voice gets to shine again in the title track 'Puzzle', after which, by now, familiar blurry theme closes the album.

What strikes me especially is that all these different aesthetics, of baroque, choir, religious chants, symphonic, psychedelic and space rock, work together. Unlike some of the later progressive rock acts, Mandrake Memorial managed to merge all this so tastefully with a deep understanding that sum has to be more than its parts. And it shows beautifully on the album. Every part is transformed through an abstraction first so that rock part isn't really rock anymore, baroque and classical aren't literally that. Everything became something else, the Mandrake Memorial last album. And I must say it's one of the best psychedelic albums from the 60s I've heard so far. Thanks NumberNine for this great find.

Oh, and #9, I owe you another review, but I totally exhausted my inspiration with this one. I'll try and write it tomorrow.

10-28-2010, 12:12 PM	#1712 (permalink)
dankrsta ... Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,776	from NumberNineDream The Mandrake Memorial - Puzzle (1969) From the moment I saw this Escher(esque) cover art, title 'Puzzle' and the band's name that was strangely familiar and mysterious, I knew I was about to hear some real hidden gem. I heard much more. Despite my love for 60s psychedelic rock and many bands from that period, I've never encountered Mandrake Memorial before. This is their third and last album described as their most ambitious, psychedelic and even progressive work. Because of my incredible experience with this one, I will definitely check out the previous two albums, although they're supposed to be quite different, more traditionally song oriented. I'm hoping they too have the same magical feeling. This album seems to be conceptual, but the concept is a puzzle. I have no idea what it is, but it's undeniable that it's there. Maybe that's the point. It can be said that the more song oriented psychedelic rock tracks are interspersed with preludes, snippets of songs, chants or abstract passages and they all more or less pour one into another. There's a song 'Just a Blur' in three versions, except it's not really a song, more like a theme, a passage that ties all these other sounds and images together and closes the album. What does this reoccurring song adds to the concept in terms of ideas I don't know, but with a title 'just a blur' so in line with 'puzzle', it adds to the overall mysterious feeling of the album. I think aesthetic, sensational concept here is just as, if not more, important than that of ideas. The album has 15 songs and I feel that it's divided in two parts. The first part opens with 'Earthfriend Prelude', a very spacey piece of music with a strong solemn and classical feel that flows right into the 'Erthfriend', a great psychedelic, space rock song with some magical keyboard and guitar work, one of the best on the album. After the first appearance of 'Just a Blur' theme, we're in for another treat, a song 'Hiding' (this is the one #9 used to lure me into this album ). It's another highlight, a more traditional psychedelic song that has strength not only in layered, floating instrumentation, but especially in vocal. It's the same male vocal I first heard in 'Erthfriend', but it especially shines here. I really cannot describe how enchanting this voice is and how deeply vulnerable it sounds while producing strangely elusive, uncatchable melodies. It has a certain familiar quality in its folkish style but that's just a hook. The more you listen the more you feel like it's not from this world. The second part of the album is where things started getting weird and unexpected. 'Kyrie' is like a Gregorian chant; 'Vulcano Prelude' with it's incredible tension and chorus sounds like something from The Omen soundtrack, but ends in guitar noise; 'Whisper Play' has psychedelic, noisy and abstract sounds married with fairy-like, baroque female voices and symphonic passages; 'Children's Prayer' is a baroque boys multi-voice choir that dissolves into guitar noise again. Even more traditional songs like 'Ocean's Daughter' and 'Volcano' have this mysterious and unsettling feeling, a danger of falling apart. The central piece of this part of the album is a 9 min long 'Bucket of Air', an instrumental epic that in many ways defines the whole album with its layered, spacey and above all unpredictable quality worthy of the early Pink Floyd. All it needs to be perfect is that magical voice . But that voice gets to shine again in the title track 'Puzzle', after which, by now, familiar blurry theme closes the album. What strikes me especially is that all these different aesthetics, of baroque, choir, religious chants, symphonic, psychedelic and space rock, work together. Unlike some of the later progressive rock acts, Mandrake Memorial managed to merge all this so tastefully with a deep understanding that sum has to be more than its parts. And it shows beautifully on the album. Every part is transformed through an abstraction first so that rock part isn't really rock anymore, baroque and classical aren't literally that. Everything became something else, the Mandrake Memorial last album. And I must say it's one of the best psychedelic albums from the 60s I've heard so far. Thanks NumberNine for this great find. Oh, and #9, I owe you another review, but I totally exhausted my inspiration with this one. I'll try and write it tomorrow. __________________ Last.fm Last edited by dankrsta; 10-28-2010 at 12:19 PM.