I used to love to go crate digging in record stores, but haven’t done so in a long while. Many stores I frequented are no longer around and I’ve now also drastically curtailed my LP purchases (I’ve never particularly enjoyed flipping through CD bins. It’s just not the same). Instead, these days I often come across online needledrops of obscure LPs, mostly from the 1960s and 70s, but sometimes going back to the 1950s and forward into the 2000s. Perusing such album posts has become my current version of crate digging, or perhaps now it’s more like “virtual digging.” Some fun and fascinating finds have popped up and I thought I’d periodically post reviews of these “virtual digs.”
OMG, I couldn’t even make it through this one, which is unusual for me. Norwegian band Rain begins their 1969 Norsk Suite album with a cover of the Beatles “A Day in the Life.” It is horrid. Rain don’t seem to grasp the concept of subtlety. Everything about this cover is overwrought, complete with all too obvious sound effects. But wait, they don’t stop there! They also murder “Strawberry Fields Forever” by either blasting the shit out of it or getting real quiet, illustrating they know what dynamics are, but haven’t a clue how to effectively use them. I guess I should give Rain credit for trying a few different directions on their original material. “Whine and Wail” is an instrumental that could be from a 1970s blaxploitation soundtrack. The title opus is a John Cage-like exploration of a piano, which is six minutes of knocking, pounding, string plucking and scraping. Their music is diverse, but that doesn’t mean its good. Right now I’m listening to some bland jazz noodling and can’t be bothered to figure out which song it is. Yikes, what a waste of studio time and budgets.
APRIL 5, 2024
Letter to the Vatican 
I had not heard of this band or album before reading your post. I’ve now listened all the way through, twice. I love it! Who else blended European avant-garde jazz with American psych rock? And yes, hints of soul-jazz. It’s in your face…in a late-night cafe. The quiet parts work given the implied intimacy of setting. I think it merits another listen from you and many more from me!
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Well, I’m glad you liked it anyway. Based on my digging experience, I imagine there are more avant-garde jazz psych rock bands waiting to be discovered somewhere out there. I’ve encountered just about everything at this point.
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