Meco - Encounters of Every Kind - 1977 (not available)
Quick to capitalize on his success with Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, Meco assembled the same crew for a concept album based partially on the theme of a trip through time and partially on wanting another hit single based on a John Williams theme.
Encounters of Every Kind takes the listener via time machine to various points in history, starting 1 million years in the past and ending in 1979 with a disco version of the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's obviously meant to be listened to as a non-stop track of nine compositions linked together by a brief "time travel" theme and with sound effects used to create atmosphere. It's a bold concept, but it starts to wear out its welcome halfway through.
The first side is the strongest, with a looming prehistoric theme. The tracks "Roman Nights" and "Lady Marion" are standouts; "Roman Nights" is short and to the point (1:41), with a strong major theme, and "Lady Marion" is very pretty. But the tracks that follow alternate between stilted and turgid; you just hold on and wait for them to be over--especially "Hot in the Saddle," a cliched Western piece that insists on being nearly five minutes long. (Good spacing on the sound effects, though.)
The second side opens with the second-worst track on the album, "Crazy Rhythm," which starts with a clattering of sound effects and then replicates the sound of a tinny old Victrola. It eventually becomes a full-blown stereo track, but by then it's already been grating and grating and grating. Much better is track "Topsy," which is supposed to evoke the feel of an early fifties jukebox, but which sounds to me like aliens having a dance party. I can totally see these great animated aliens line dancing to this or something, with little fedoras on. Okay, it's better than I just made it sound. It's cool.
The two tracks closing the album, "Meco's Theme/3W.57" and "Theme from Close Encounters," are purposely the most disco-oriented tracks on the album. "Meco's Theme" is super disco; apparently it appears in the movie Thank God It's Friday. Now, I like disco, so I enjoyed "Meco's Theme." You can dance to it, it's got a great beat and is dense with instrumentation without being inaccessible. It's good stuff. "Theme from Close Encounters," though, drowns in a sound effects sequence which stops the whole thing dead in its tracks. I've got the rest of his discography to go through, but so far lightning has only struck once for Meco on John Williams.
Overall, though, the album's central concept and the flow of the music are a fun little sweep. You can listen to it all the way through once or twice; I'm not sorry I listened to it, but I'm mostly just going to stick to a couple of tracks in the future.
Grade B-
A Side: "Topsy," "Meco's Theme/3W.57"
BlindSides: "Roman Nights," "Lady Marion"
DownSides: "Icebound," "Hot in the Saddle," "Crazy Rhythm"
No comments:
Post a Comment