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The Zodiac - Cosmic Sounds (1967)

Track listing:
  1. Aries - The Fire-Fighter 3:16
  2. Taurus - The Voluptuary 3:42
  3. Gemini - The Cool Eye 2:52
  4. Cancer - The MoonChild 3:29
  5. Leo - The Lord Of Lights 2:34
  6. Virgo - The Perpetual Perfectionist 3:11
  7. Libra - The Flower Child 3:33
  8. Scorpio - The Passionate Hero 2:53
  9. Sagittarius - The Versatile Daredevil
  10. Capricorn - The Uncapricious Climber
  11. Aquarius - The Lover Of Life 3:47
  12. Pisces - The Peace Piper 3:22

Notes


The Zodiac, the greatest semi-band in the world? This little piece of work is their only album together, though many of them had and would work together again in other stuff. Anyhoohas, the music is excellent, and the narration is...we, the narration is utterly 60s. It says "Must Be Played In The Dark" on the cover, and that's approporiate, but for the words, an additional "Must be Played While Stoned" would be nice. Cyrus Faryar has a cool voice, but Jac Wilson's words are so dated and sound so silly now that it sounds totally absurd. My dad laughs every time he hears the words, expecially "six men and six trees" on Taurus.

The Moog is hot stuff on this one. PaulBeaver blows off some sweet riffs. Emil Richards shows off fine percussive tricks, Hal Blaine shows fine drumming, finer than any of his session work. Carol Kaye has some fine bass goin' too. Bud Shank can creep you out with his flute work, Nobody knows the guitar players' names, which is sad, 'cause they give this a hot California acid rock feel that makes me wonder when Grace Slick will jump in. Wilson's poetry sounds pretty Jim Morrison also!

Highlights:

Leo-Lord Of Lights, this is the happiest song on the album. Real coo, guitar funk there!

Taurus-The Voluptuary: Heavy Metal synth blasts the opening riff into youe ears and some creepy flute keeps you goin.

Sagittarius-The Versatile Daredevil: Circus music gone mad. Swirling sythns tricks and Cyrus's slightly crazy vocals make this worthwhile

Capricorn-The Uncapricious Climber: More creepy flute and some exotic synth make this is cool little piece of ghost rock.

In my personal list of the Ten Best Rock Albums, this is right there at ten! Believe me, the narration is a bit silly, but the voice is cool and the music is top notch! This is one truly forgotten classic.