MUSHROOM Reeperbahn LP RARE CLEAR VINYL #76/125 PSYCH @

$

35

US BELMONDO (BEL 004) 1997 ORIGINAL CLEAR VINYL LIMITED TO 125 COPIES

The concept behind Mushroom, a band that dabbles in space rock, Delta blues, Krautrock, and jam band-ism, is one of freedom -- never make the same album twice and try to do something different every time you get on-stage. Mushroom are known for known for an ever-changing lineup of players and a great deal of improvisation in their live shows and recordings, and their revolving door of personnel and willingness to experiment have led to guest appearances by many of their influences, including Gong's Daevid Allen, Soft Machine's Kevin Ayers, and Cream lyricist Peter Brown, and their catalog is vast with varying bootleg recordings and live albums.

Inspired by early-'70s Miles Davis albums like Big Fun and mid-'70s King Crimson, drummer Pat Thomas pooled together some Bay Area musicians in November 1996. He had been recording and releasing some material as a singer/songwriter in Germany and planned to record a bunch of instrumental jams to use as sound clips between his songs. After playing one of the segments (a 20-minute piece that eventually became "The Reeperbahn") for a friend who owned the Belmondo label, Thomas was asked if the imprint could release it as a single. Rather than use his own moniker, Thomas (masquerading as Patrick O'Hearn) quickly invented the name Mushroom, based on the fact that one of the bandmembers used to sell psychedelic mushrooms, and then insisted that the song be released as a 12" rather than sacrifice its length. About six months later, The Reeperbahn LP came out, and Thomas decided to do some shows to promote the record and put his songwriting career on hold. Originally, the band that was formed for these gigs tried to duplicate the originally recorded material, but not long after they switched to improvising in order to adhere to the group's core element of spontaneity. - (AMG)

"Los Angeles is my place of birth. New York is my adopted home. But, San  Francisco  is the city I visit when I want to return to the beatnik roots I never had. Dreams of Ferlinghetti, Lenny Bruce and Miles Davis spin around my head as I stomp thru North  Beach, crawl thru the Lower Haight, flying on some wild combination of bourbon, sleeplessness and the freaky sounds and sights that beckon from every bar.

The summer of 1997 was no exception as I emerged from a self-imposed haze into a dark dingy bar called the Make Out Room somewhere in the Mission district. Local hipsters were scattered about like some kind of barometer of a cool yard sale. There was some members of American Music Club in one corner, members of Pavement in another. I think I even spotted Jorma Kaukonen of the Airplane quietly digging the scene..... I knew I was in the right place at the right time.

Before too long I was ignoring the hip surroundings, the attending royalty, the trippy lights and focused on the music. Musical references were being tossed so quickly, one minute it was Miles Davis' 'Agharta', the next minute Faust, the next minute 1970's King Crimson, one after another, until the influences didn't matter..... I turned off my mind, relaxed and floated downstream (to paraphrase some other hipster) and then my mind split open (to quote another).

The band announced that the next number would be 'The Reeperbahn' and before I could rev up the memory machine, of nights spent in Hamburg over the years, my rational mind was put on a cosmic back burner as the band played what seemed like a 10-hour piece (I later learned it was only 52 minutes - the version on this album is a mere 24 minutes, I'm afraid). They followed that with several other songs including 'Martina-Queen of Hamburg', 'On the Corner (Part Two)', and 'Kyle Loves a Funny Bunny' - and then after 3 hours and 38 minutes, the band had finished their set." - Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate)

This is an UNPLAYED MINT COPY of the original clear vinyl pressing numbered to 125 copies (#76) with the original two inserts. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

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