the of mirror eye

* The Bevis Frond: God Speed You To Earth (19 mb)
From Langston Hughes Theater : Oct 09, 1999 : Seattle, WA

Nick Saloman, the main man behind The Bevis Frond, has done more to furthur the psychedelic music cause than just about anyone out there. Now, you may think that I’m just talking out of my ass, but you’d be wrong. He’s been involved with music for longer than I’ve been alive and has countless records to his name. He’s also actively involved with all aspects of the music industry. And whether it’s through his label - Woronzow, his magazine - the Ptolemaic Terrascope, or his main band - The Bevis Frond, the music festivals he’s involved with - Terrastock, or his numerous other musical projects, he injects his distinctive vision of what great music should be. And to top it all off, by all accounts he may be a bit strange, but he’s one hell of a nice guy.

I’m not a loony, I’m just super-sensitive. I can’t handle criticism very well. If someone says they don’t like what I do I do tend to get very upset about it. If people dare to criticise anything really it does rather bother me. It’s a constant battle that I have, to realise that it doesn’t really mean anything and that it’s not that important anyhow if someone makes a snidey comment somewhere. I think what it is is that I have an exaggerated sense of injustice, because I’ve spent so many years doing what I think is very good stuff, trying everything I knew to get somewhere, and getting told to fuck off all the time. Ditched, rejected, laughed out of record labels and all that, and I suppose I carry with me a bit of paranoia and anger as a result. The thing is, I put everything I can into it. I look after the people who buy the records, I try to be honest, to try not to rip people off, to answer all the letters, to be nice to people… you know, I really go out of my way. So if someone starts criticising I just think, fuck off, why don’t you go and criticise someone who deserves to be criticised? Someone who does treat the fans with contempt? They’re the ones who you should be shouting at. The record labels who put out CDs lasting 28 minutes and charge full price for them - they’re the ones who should be fucking criticised. Not the ones like me at the other end of the spectrum, where I’m actually forced to leave songs off CDs because I haven’t got room for them.

(excerpt from a Terracope interview)

The Ptolemaic Terrascope is the gateway to the vast world of psychedelic music. Most of what I know about the genre is through that magazine. If you’re lucky enough to run across a copy at your local emporium, then you should definitely pick up a copy. Unfortunately, they mostly work on a subscription basis, so the magazine is often very quickly sold out.

But let’s start talking about the music. The Bevis Frond has been his main musical outlet since the late 80’s, and has been churning out psychedelic masterpieces like no one’s business. It’s simply amazing just how much music that man has in him. It’s even more amazing to note that a fair number of his albums were made with himself as the sole member. In fact, one of the first Bevis Frond albums I owned was a double cd set with him playing all instruments, doing all the singing and producing the record himself. And there wasn’t a dull moment throughout the whole thing.

So, the songs for today are from a beautifully recorded concert that he did at the Langston Hughes Theatre. I had no idea what I was going to post today, but as I was sitting outside the laundromat, basking in the glorious sunlight, waiting for my laundry, this song God Speed You To Earth came on and it absolutely blew me away. After hearing it the first time, I couldn’t help myself and must’ve listened to it five or six times in a row. I feel it’s the quintessential Bevis Frond song. It starts off nicely with a quiet/pretty introduction and then blasts off into the stratosphere with his incredible Hendrix-ian guitar playing. What a song!

—–+—–

Again, apologies to those with slow connections and/or small hard drives for the long song.