This past July’s Moods was the direct result of me going through my record collection and sorting out what things I’m going to be getting rid of during this Summer. With the ability to rebuild my collection after the major sell-off in 2004 that left me with less than one hundred LPs, I never wanted it to get unwieldly in the future. I have two matching shelves along a wall with 24 cubes and I want to keep everything contained within those 24 cubes. During the pandemic I have done perhaps more record therapy than at any other point in my life and now, just as is the case with my actual pandemic weight, it’s time to “trim the fat.” That process requires me to go through all of my albums and decide whether each one still sparks joy and deserves to remain. What’s been interesting (and is precisely the reason why I don’t want my collection to get any bigger than this) is that I kept running into records that I’d almost forgotten that I’d even bought (which might also be a consequence of how the pandemic has affected memory and created an even more elastic sense of time than normal…then again it could be the copious amounts of weed I now smoke, also a consequence of the pandemic). One of those records was the album from the Catalan progressive psych group Om, which I bought back in 2016 at Barcelona’s Wah Wah Records.
That record, especially the song, “Excusa 6/8,” was something that I had on my turntable for months after returning, but it was also a record I likely haven’t played in three or four years, as my attention focused on newer acquisitions. Returning to it and how much I love it got me thinking about how I could feature it in my show. Because of the length of the song, and the largely instrumental nature of it, it didn’t immediately bring any emotion or mood to mind. But it was that very nature, how the song wanders about in a variety of ways before returning to the sublime melody that it begins with brought “wander” to mind. Once that was the case, I knew I’d pair it with a few similar songs, long tunes that travel far distances, and that also might have been difficult to find a home in a future Moods, despite how much I love them. From 1970s Catalunya, we settled on Germany around the same time with songs from Achim Reichel and The Can that cover their entire album sides. These songs don’t just wander about, or aimlessly meander, but the variety of places they travel also spark wonder in my ears and mind, and thus this “mixed” emotions show was born. Presenting them all in a single set made the most sense, to maximize the wonderful effect of these wandering sounds. I can almost guarantee that we’ll return with a few of these wander/wonder sessions in the future, but for now enjoy this one…Peace & Bright Moments
Moods In Free Time: 031 – Wander/Wonder
Playlist – Moods In Free Time 031: Wander/Wonder
{opening theme} The Visitors – The Juggler – In My Youth (Muse)
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Om – Excusa 6/8 – Om (Edigsa)
Achim Reichel – Vita – A.R.4 (Zebra)
Can – Bel Air – Future Days (United Artists)
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{closing theme} Tony Williams – Wild Life – Believe It! (Columbia)