The Golden Scarab

[hungryhippo]

i just put in GS again after a year or so of letting it collect dust on my shelf and now Im kicking myself for leaving idle for so long. I hesitate saying this, but I do think its a bit better than OV/ FC. The whole concept of the album is a work of art, not to mention the groovy music! by the way, the instrumental in Downbound Train sounds mighty, mighty familiar.... ;D

[jimbo]

Golden Scarab outshines OV/FC in every way possible

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Here is a review I did for the Xmas 2001 issue of Scorpywag....

Ray Manzarek: The Golden Scarab.



After the demise of The Doors Ray's debut album was a breath of fresh air compared to 'Full Circle'.
No one wanted The Doors story to end on that note and Ray's solo work and the subsequent Butts Band album ensured it did not. After considering new vocalists to complete a new Doors line up (Howard Werth from Audience, Siren's Kevin Coyne and Jess Roden the Bronco vocalist were all in the frame) the three remaining Doors decided to call it a day as it seemed the Doors were feted to become nothing more than tomorrows quiz question.
John and Robby went with Roden to form the ill fated but excellent Butts Band whilst Ray decided to become an American Keith Emerson.
Now, this album could be considered a tad pretentious, but for the time (it was released in 1974) with Yes, Genesis and ELP in vogue it was perfect.
Subtitled 'A Rhythm Myth' Ray was at his most mystical as he and his new band took a jazz excursion into the history and legend that was Ancient Egypt. Doors fans already knew Ray was a keyboard magician but now without 'The Lizard King' to distract the listener it was apparent to all just how much of a genius the guy really was.

"In the beginning was the rhythm, but I had forgotten and was waiting for the word" Thus begins an epic journey into the mind of one of rocks finest keyboard exponents. Morrisonesque imagery abounds from the outset.
The opener 'He Can't Come Today' {Who? Jim?} addresses the hope that
"The Lizard King" was not dead merely in hiding. 'Maybe he'll come tomorrow..' 'The Solar Boat' is a beautiful jazzy ballad that would not have sounded amiss on the excellent 'Other Voices' LP. Once again Ray makes reference to his lost friend. 'Let's take a Moonlight Drive'.
Chuck Berry's 'Down bound Train' harks back brilliantly to Ray's Rick & The Ravens days as 'Screaming Ray Daniels' howls out a hellish refrain as he hurtles full pelt into rock&roll oblivion. Great Jim metaphor: 'I found myself on a bar room floor. I had drunk so much I could drink no more'

Ray excels on this track with a dazzling piano solo and one of his finest vocal performances. The track 'The Golden Scarab' is Ray at his most pompous but it is so well executed he is easily forgiven. After all this is a concept album!!
Ray gets the chance to go to town with his keyboards especially on 'The Moorish Idol' instrumental which is flanked by a seeming admonishment to Jim with 'The Purpose Of Existence Is?' and the very perceptive 'Choose Up & Choose Off' in which Ray makes an excellent point on society in general.
'Left side, right side which side is your side' Very deep Ray!!

Overflowing with Ancient Egyptian and Jim Morrison imagery the album stands up well even by today's 'heady' standards and is a testimony to Ray.
'Finally I was back at the beginning and I could start a new dream'
Ray exorcising Jim's ghost in the last track 'Oh Thou Precious Nectar Filled Form'? 'Don't deny your body or you're gonna go and lose your way'
Cool and sometimes profound lyrics and with sparkling support from Larry Carlton, who is a truly wonderful guitar player, and with the whole concept held together by the rock hard rhythm of Jerry Scheff's bass guitar and former 'Lifetime' front man Tony Williams on drums this is a minor gem with not a weak 'Full Circle' moment at all. Produced and engineered by Bruce Botnick at The Doors second home Sunset Sound the album is musically superb throughout and with Ray in imperious form on vocals is an obscure masterpiece.
Scorpywag rating: 9/10 bloody excellent!! AP.



"This side project after the demise of The Doors has been sidelined and dismissed over the years by critics as background music, but this re-release? gives a welcome chance for a
re-appraisal."
Record Collector

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Single from The Golden Scarab album.

[othercircles]

Choose Up Or Choose Off was the single? That's like the worst song on the disc! I woulda chosen just about anything before that. I woulda had "The Purpose Of Existance" backed with "Solar Boat" or reversed.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Actually this was a French single so maybe that was popular with the French............I never heard of a single from it being released here in the UK .....I presume there was a US one to go with the release of the album but have no idea what it was...

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Ray Manzarek - The Golden Scarab

Mention The Doors and people tend to overdraw on Jim Morrison without actively attributing at least some credit for the band’s success to his fellow band members. Whereas Morrison had God-given talent in droves, Ray Manzarek was blessed with immense skill, particular in his avant-garde leanings towards utilising the keyboard as a fiery instrument for rock assault. Morrison’s early death ensured that he would forever steal the spotlight from the other Doors. The fact that most music fans would struggle to name the two albums that the remaining band members recorded after his death speaks volumes for the myth that advocates Morrison was The Doors.

Listen to The Golden Scarab, and you will agree that Ray Manzarek could offer musical work that was just as interesting as Morrison’s, even if the level of charisma on offer was lacking. Where Morrison had dangerous instinct, Manzarek had calculated brains, and yet The Golden Scarab offers a hint that maybe it wasn’t just Morrison who was hung up on preaching whatever pretentious spiritual rambling took his fancy at the time. On first glance, the album is your typical latter-period Doors record – regular motifs such as spoken word introductions feature throughout, along with an overwhelming lyrical fascination for the mystical. Most importantly, however, a strong collection of rock songs is contained, albeit buried amidst off-the-wall production values and indulgent musings. Despite this, repeated lessons to The Golden Scarab will teach you that beneath the mumbo-jumbo aesthetic lies a worthier album than most Doors / Morrison fans will admit to.

Hopelessly naïve in places in its dated mysticism, you’d have strong reason to claim, in an ironic way, that Manzarek’s spiritual vision on the album was tainted purely by the fact that his musicianship was too strong. It’s as if the melodic hooks and killer-choruses somehow made their way into the song structures and that this wasn’t the original Manzarek master-plan. Another major factor corroborating the notion that The Golden Scarab is musically strong is the quality-driven session musicians Manzarek enlisted as his new ‘recording band’. Forever Changes-producer Bruce Botnick oversaw the album’s production with assured confidence, helped by impeccable guitar-work from Larry Carlton and slick drumming from Tony Williams.

Somehow, the album survives despite overt pandering to fourth-dimension conscious-thought. The introduction to second song has Manzarek’s spoken-vocal delivering “And myself said to me ‘Why are you waiting? I’ve always been at your side, can’t you see me? No? Well, then come with it’s time you lean to see!’“ When Morrison spouted nonsense such as this we forgave him because he always danced on the dark side; his unpredictability lead to a sense of incoming alarm at any moment. Manzarek doesn’t earn as much forgiveness with this assumed-narrator persona, and yet we quickly forget the leftfield cosmic framings the minute we hear stand-out song The Solar Boat. This second song off the album begins stark and intense, and then casually slips into a strong chorus, which even pays lyrical homage to doors with its “Let’s take a Moonlight Drive” lyric. It’s a strong follow-up to opener He Can’t Come Today, Maybe Tomorrow, which takes a space rocket through many unrelated musical genres before settling on a blues-rock chorus; the lyrical call for a religious leader seems lost amongst a song this melodic.

Soaring through Chuck Berry cover Downbound Train and even glam-rock synthesiser instrumental The Moorish Idol, it’s clear Ray Manzarek desperately wants to deliver a concept album that people will crave. Funnily enough, it’s the music on offer, as opposed to the concept, that will continue to attract Doors fans back to The Golden Scarab. It’s scary how similar Manzarek’s singing voice sounds to LA Woman-era Morrison, even though it becomes quite apparentManzarek lacks a strong voice on record. Even so, The Golden Scarab is a fine continuation of The Doors’ legacy after the death of Morrison, and should be regarded as an important work in the band’s universe.

Cherry Red reviews 20-05-2004

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Ray Manzarek - 1974 - The Golden Scarab
Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

I'm a relatively avid Doors fan, but I only recently discovered the existence of their keyboard man's 1974 solo album.
As you may guess, there are plenty of the groovin' organ sounds that you might expect, along with Manzarek's not completely embarrassing attempts to create a Morrison-like vocal croon. With some studio pros like drummer Tony Williams and bassist Jerry Scheff along for the ride, we get some quality playing here that pushes the sound into jazzier territory than we typically heard with the Doors.

We'll start with noting the centerpiece of the album, "The Purpose Of Existence Is?" Starting with a whispy organ solo, we end up right smack in a L.A. Woman-style sleeze bar groove, complete with the philosophical lyrics. Not that this is a carbon copy of the Doors. The musicians here swing way more than the Doors ever did, and Manzarek's vocals add an inviting playfulness that never appeared on a Morrison recording.

Really, the first half of the album comes across a whole lot better than you might expect. "He Can't Come Today" is a cool Latin-tinged rocker where Manzarek's singing doesn't sound completely assured, but the band certainly does. There's also the fine title track, which is a funky tune where Manzarek spews forth a bunch of Egyptian mythology, and that manages to amuse me pretty well.

Coming far out of left field is the instrumental "The Moorish Idol." It's sort of like a slab of 50's style exotica shot through latin jazz-rock and a piercing synthesizer. I guess that makes it sort of a fusion piece, which makes perfect sense with Tony Williams being around. Anyhow, it's a nice change of pace that nicely spices up the album.

The Golden Scarab is fortunately more than a curiosity piece. Manzarek manages to both acknowledge his past with the Doors and press on in a few new directions. It's too bad that this (along with a second solo album) seems to have been more of a false start than a proper solo career.

Dr Schluss Garage of Psychedelic Obscurities April 2008

A common mistake as the album in it's early form featured a couple of tracks from the follow up. Moorish Idol is not part of Golden Scarab.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

THE GOLDEN SCARAB is a 1974 solo album by former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

More than Full Circle and Other Voices, The Golden Scarab is the best embodiment of the Doors by one of the three surviving members, and it is amazing it wasn't a huge underground smash. With mentions of moonlight drives, tightrope rides, and titles of past Doors tunes in "The Solar Boat," drummer Tony Williams, guitarist Larry Carlton, bassist Jerry Scheff, and producer Bruce Botnick generate an eerie sound behind the singer, creating a title track as mysterious and fun as anything by Morrison and company. With intense rhythms and tons of creativity, Ray Manzarek brings us on a musical journey as unique as The Phantom's Divine Comedy, and if Robbie Krieger brought the commercial element to the Doors' gravy train, it is clear here that the eldest of the quartet had more a hand in the development of the Doors persona than he may have been given credit for.

One can't fault Krieger and John Densmore for stretching out with Butts Band, but there is a certain responsibility hit artists should have to their audience.
The Bright Midnight releases finally address those concerns, but decades before the opening of the Doors tape vaults, that sound from L.A. Woman was most obvious on "The Purpose of Existence Is?" on this solo effort. Yes, Ray Manzarek veers off into his jazz leanings; given the players on this, how could he not? But he gives enough of a taste of past glories to make The Golden Scarab accessible, spoon feeding his musical styles to those who couldn't get enough of the music he was associated with. It's dramatic and cohesive, making more sense than Jim Morrison much of the time, with more controlled insanity. It is amazing that such a fine work as The Golden Scarab escaped the masses, and shameful that classic hits stations don't add this to their incessant repertoire.
Had Jim Morrison lived, this is the path the music of the Doors should have taken. Smooth and demanding of repeated spins.
Joe Viglione for CD Universe

"The Golden Scarab" is by far the best embodiment of the "Doors" by one of the three surviving members. Originally released in 1974, it features some incredible session players of the time including Larry Carlton on guitar and Tony Williams on drums! Cameo appearances include amazingly Joe Walsh and Flo and Eddie!

The 3 bonus tracks come from Manzarek's second solo album, "The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's Out Of Control."

Personnel: Ray Manzarek (vocals, piano, organ, synthesizer, kalimba); Larry Carlton (guitar); Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Oscar Brashear (trumpet); Tony Ruption Williams , Tim Downs (drums); Mailto Correa (congas, bongos, wood block); Milt Holland (cowbells, pandeiro).

Liner Note Author: Nina Antonia.

Recording information: Sunset Sound, Studio 2, Hollywood, CA.

Photographer: Suzanne Ayres.

Personnel: Ray Manzarek (vocals, keyboards); Larry Carlton (guitar); Jerry Scheff (bass); Tony Williams (drums); Mailto Correa, Steve Forman, Milt Holland (percussion).

3 stars out of 5 - "Tremendous keyboard playing...backed by jazz drummer Tony Williams' superabundant swing..."

Mojo magazine


Ray Manzarek
The Golden Scarab


Mention The Doors and people tend to overdraw on Jim Morrison without actively attributing at least some credit for the band’s success to his fellow band members. Whereas Morrison had God-given talent in droves, Ray Manzarek was blessed with immense skill, particular in his avant-garde leanings towards utilising the keyboard as a fiery instrument for rock assault. Morrison’s early death ensured that he would forever steal the spotlight from the other Doors. The fact that most music fans would struggle to name the two albums that the remaining band members recorded after his death speaks volumes for the myth that advocates Morrison was The Doors.

Listen to The Golden Scarab, and you will agree that Ray Manzarek could offer musical work that was just as interesting as Morrison’s, even if the level of charisma on offer was lacking. Where Morrison had dangerous instinct, Manzarek had calculated brains, and yet The Golden Scarab offers a hint that maybe it wasn’t just Morrison who was hung up on preaching whatever pretentious spiritual rambling took his fancy at the time. On first glance, the album is your typical latter-period Doors record – regular motifs such as spoken word introductions feature throughout, along with an overwhelming lyrical fascination for the mystical. Most importantly, however, a strong collection of rock songs is contained, albeit buried amidst off-the-wall production values and indulgent musings. Despite this, repeated lessons to The Golden Scarab will teach you that beneath the mumbo-jumbo aesthetic lies a worthier album than most Doors / Morrison fans will admit to.

Hopelessly naïve in places in its dated mysticism, you’d have strong reason to claim, in an ironic way, that Manzarek’s spiritual vision on the album was tainted purely by the fact that his musicianship was too strong. It’s as if the melodic hooks and killer-choruses somehow made their way into the song structures and that this wasn’t the original Manzarek master-plan. Another major factor corroborating the notion that The Golden Scarab is musically strong is the quality-driven session musicians Manzarek enlisted as his new ‘recording band’. Forever Changes-producer Bruce Botnick oversaw the album’s production with assured confidence, helped by impeccable guitar-work from Larry Carlton and slick drumming from Tony Williams.

Somehow, the album survives despite overt pandering to fourth-dimension conscious-thought. The introduction to second song has Manzarek’s spoken-vocal delivering “And myself said to me ‘Why are you waiting? I’ve always been at your side, can’t you see me? No? Well, then come with it’s time you lean to see!’“ When Morrison spouted nonsense such as this we forgave him because he always danced on the dark side; his unpredictability lead to a sense of incoming alarm at any moment. Manzarek doesn’t earn as much forgiveness with this assumed-narrator persona, and yet we quickly forget the leftfield cosmic framings the minute we hear stand-out song The Solar Boat. This second song off the album begins stark and intense, and then casually slips into a strong chorus, which even pays lyrical homage to doors with its “Let’s take a Moonlight Drive” lyric. It’s a strong follow-up to opener He Can’t Come Today, Maybe Tomorrow, which takes a space rocket through many unrelated musical genres before settling on a blues-rock chorus; the lyrical call for a religious leader seems lost amongst a song this melodic.

Soaring through Chuck Berry cover Downbound Train and even glam-rock synthesiser instrumental The Moorish Idol, it’s clear Ray Manzarek desperately wants to deliver a concept album that people will crave. Funnily enough, it’s the music on offer, as opposed to the concept, that will continue to attract Doors fans back to The Golden Scarab. It’s scary how similar Manzarek’s singing voice sounds to LA Woman-era Morrison, even though it becomes quite apparentManzarek lacks a strong voice on record. Even so, The Golden Scarab is a fine continuation of The Doors’ legacy after the death of Morrison, and should be regarded as an important work in the band’s universe.
The Music Fix May 2004

RAY MANZAREK - THE GOLDEN SCARAB

There's often a good reason why albums remain out of print for 30 years.
Ray Manzarek's The Golden Scarab is a case in point. It sucks. He can be forgiven the endless recycling of his "Riders On The Storm"-style keyboard vamping.
But the sub-Morrisonian spoken introductions with which he opens every track are risible.
"And myself said to me, 'Why are you waiting? I've always been at your side, can't you see me?' " he intones.
Even Jim at his dumbest, stinkiest drunk would have pissed himself laughing.
Uncut magazine.

Needless to say I for one disagree passionately with this silly appraisal.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

This is a review from Amazon.com by (I am presuming) my old dork sparring partner on the Doors LL the other Alex AK47
Now the reason I placed it here was to show it's not all doom and gloom in the Ray Manzarek world as there is, as always, another side to the story.
I bought this album via HMV's import service several months before it was released in the UK.
I thought it was brilliant then and I think it is brilliant today.
It's a good review by AK and I find very little to disagree with it.
If you have not heard this brilliantly insane Manzarek concept then you should if you are a Doors fan.
Both this and Butts Bands debut are markers for what might have happened if Jim had not left the Doors and gone to Europe.
Ray was always a good vocalist even though not that popular with Doors fans. Here he gets the full spotlight and does not let his former band down.
I have been talking about this album for nearly 40 years and usually to myself as nobody wanted to give it a chance. Which is a shame as both Ray's 70s solo albums are superb.
Of course they are pompous and overblown. Even Led Zeppelin were doing that in the 70s.
It was the 70s Zeitgeist the spirit of the age.
The musicianship on the album is awesome and the concept magnificent in it's conception.
It shows the difference between the man and the music.
I don't like Ray as a person but could always differentiate the music from the man. This album is essential to a Doors fan as is Other Voices, Butts Band and the Nite City LPs.
It's Doors History man and a very worthy part of that History.


The Golden Scarab is Ray Manzarek's finest hour as a musician. Shamefully overlooked and vastly underappreciated (word is that it was just too deep for most music label execs)- this is a serious masterpiece that you need to hear.

Jazz fusion with the finest percussion you'll find this side of Sergio Mendes. What more can I say?
Part Herbie Hancock Headhunters, part Santana Abraxas and 100% Ray Manzarek at the helm. You get total piano driven rockers like "Downbound Train" and incredible jazz numbers like "The Purpose of Existance Is" - a song that features Ray's finest solo, bar none.

Contrary to my thought going into this album- this is not an LP filled with 20 minute organ solos over a looped drum track. This is a brilliant concept album jam packed with the most creative music I've come across since discovering Frank Zappa's best work.

Ray's vocals are very well done- only stretching a little too far at a few points (never enough to ruin the music). I can only imagine the amount of fun Ray had constructing this album. It's 100% pure Ray as I like to say. It embodies all his beliefs as well as his favorite concepts in music.
I loved his autobiography, but this 45 minute album reveals just as much about the legendary keyboard player of The Doors (as he will forever be known).

I've only scratched the surface of this miracle of an album. Buy it, but do track down the authentic, original cd release on Mercury Records. This "lemon records" print is nothing more than a bootleg. On the official Mercury release, you get three bonus tracks from Ray's second solo album (and trust me- they're song's you'll want to hear).
AK Chicago

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Feeding the Myth Hunger

Ray Manzarek Live Max's Kansas City

Crowds of Myth hungry Doors fans packed Max's Kansas City last week to see Ray Manzarek's band make their New York debut.
The high instance of flashcube Instamatic's indicated the extent to which this show figured in people's nostalgia.
Manzarek was The Doors musical director, a practical counter balance to the stage madness of Jim Morrison, and after Morrison died Manzarek tried to keep the group going.
The dismal 'Full Circle' was a measure of his failure to do so and the band disbanded in confusion.
Manzarek came back recently with a formidable solo effort 'The Golden Scarab', using drummer Tony Williams and guitarist Larry Carleton both notable musicians in their own right, for a superb backing band.
Unfortunately for Manzarek, Williams was more interested in getting his 'Lifetime' group together and Carleton was unwilling to leave his studio work. But Manzarek still managed to assemble a fine band for the tour consisting of drummer Tim Downs, percussionist Steve Forman, bassist Jerry Manfredi and guitarist Dave Ferguson.
They played the Scarab material live with technical competence and much fire.
The only fortunate aspect is Manzarek's singing which was strained and slightly off key the night I saw him.
he admitted after the gig that he'd rather not sing himself but couldn't find a suitable lead voice.
Apparently he is deluged by people who claim to sing like Jim Morrison.

John Swenson
The Village Voice June 13th 1974

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Golden Scarab

The Doors are no more, they died, just as all the doomsayers predicted, with Jim Morrison in Paris. But the remnants lmove on.
Robbie Krieger and John Densmore have formed The Butts Band a sort of mellow rock and roll group.
Keyboardsman Ray Manzarek meanwhile is off on his own trip with a new album called 'The Golden Scarab'.
It's a concept LP rooted in a book by Sigmund Freud called 'Moses and Monotheism'.
'Scarab' says Ray 'is about this guy who is waiting for the messiah. He's looking for someone to show him the way......a personal quest for the understanding of life. At the end he finds out that he can only do it himself. Take life as it is, don't judge.'
A grandoise theme, to say the least, but handled relatively well, except for the utterly inane lines of spoken narration between several tracks.
On the whole though a successful debut for manzarek solo.


The Hour, Norwalk, Connecticut, May 1st 1974

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Solar Boat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4PBoAedWVA&feature=related

He Can't Come Today
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di72f5WHNTI&feature=related

The Golden Scarab
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA-HbzkQVRQ

Downbound Train
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUa3eemMwRs&feature=related

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Moorish Idol 45 rpm single




Promo 45 by for the songs Downbound Train b/w Choose Up & Choose Off




Solar Boat 45 rpm single

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

‘The Golden Scarab’ (Lemon)
This 1974 record by The Doors’ keyboard player is either the furthest-reaching concept album ever made, or the biggest dog’s breakfast in the entire history of the state of California.

Ray Manzarek always fancied himself as a bit of an Apollo (god of sun, poetry and music) to Jim Morrison’s Dionysius (wine and excess) – let’s not forget he took over as frontman of a three-piece Doors, which outlived Morrison by two albums. Here, no longer held back by the leashes of a mere rock band, Ray wastes no time wading right into a carnival of jazz and samba, synth and rumba, rock-opera and boogie-woogie, all the while wearing golden Tutankhamun facepaint and global new-age influences on his sleeve.

Expect ‘Solar Boat’ alone to change your life, exposing Tibet as the source of the Nile and debuting a whole new shamanic scripture: ‘Up in front are Neitzsche and William Blake/Kundalini’s in the aisle forming lazy eights.’ Easily the largest concept album ever.

Devotees will surely be chanting for chunks of this baby on the current Ian Astbury/Doors world tour.

Derek Hammond
Classic Rock Magazine October 2004

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

This is a magnificent CD which gives us the Golden Scarab live.
I got this from I Tunes and it was worth every penny.
If you like TGS this is an essential album to have.
There are a couple of Ray live boots knocking around but this is by far the best.

I've loved TSG since I first got an import LP copy back in 1974 months before it appeared in the UK.




1 He can't come Today (Live 1974)6:41
2 The purpose of existence Is? (Live 1974)6:30
3 Solar Boat (Live 1974)8:36
4 Downbound Train (Live 1974)7:30
5 Interview (Live 1974)4:41
6 The moorish Idol (Live 1974)13:13
7 Oh thou precious nectar filled form or a little Fart (Live 1974)6:19
8 The golden Scarab (Live 1974)10:17
9 Good Rockin' (Live 1974)5:21

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Smashing article on TGS by Doors archivist & Ray webmaster Dave Dutowski who, regardless of the infamous Doors Wars 2003-2008,
I would love to buy a beer for in Paris one day and have a good Doors natter.
It was a bloody shame Doors fans turned their backs on the last 2 Doors albums (OK Full Circle was pretty bad) and the lads solo work.
Stuff like this deserves success.

Ray has consistently put out some superb work up until his death.
His albums with poets are excellent and his musical collaborations with various artists always interesting.

I got TSG as an import several months before it hit the UK.
I loved it from that first play and still do today.
OK it is fucking bonkers but it's also fucking brilliant as well.







i.postimg.cc/d0WTFRX3/Capture-JPGd.jpg

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

This is really interesting if you ever wondered how 16 Track recording happened.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

I've criticised Ray on hundreds of occasions and never thought much of him as a person since 2002.
But his musicianship is extraordinary and TGS was a fine example of what Prog rock had to offer in the first half of the 70's.
It's a shame that so many people ignored Ray after The Doors closed in 1973 but he put a lot of effort into his solo work and does not deserve a review like that.
OK he wasn't everybody's cup of tea.
I bought it in 1974 and never met another person who liked it until The Lizard Lounge opened in 2002.
This is the kind of lazy review that prospered in the advent of the music magazine in the 90s.
If you are going to dismiss something at least try to do it with a modicum of intelligence.



This is how you do it Uncut.