Henry Flynt - Raga Electric (1963-1971) [Flac] torrent

Release Date June 7, 2002
Duration32:37
Genre
Avant-Garde
Pop/Rock
Styles
Experimental
Recording Date 1963 - 1971



This retrospective is a sunny afternoon's dig around the musical archaeological site, in which surprising Flynt

handicrafts are unearthed. Not quite the majestic temple of the extended works issued on the Recorded label, these are

pieces that nonetheless provide illumination into other things the man was capable of during his experimental music days.

The disc's title piece may ultimately not be something a listener will return to again and again, other than to perhaps

provide an example to curious guests about what might be one of the most extreme recordings ever made. The vocal on this

selection will arouse curiosity even among those hearing it all the way on the other side of a large house, if only

because it is a vocal performance that resembles nothing else ever released. The same cannot really be said for the

electric guitar playing that accompanies this sometimes horrifying vocal; what sounds like (but might not be) a pair of

double-tracked guitars, slightly out of tune in junior's garage band mode, take a very simplistic approach to Indian raga

indeed. Play the track for Indian classical musicians, and they will inevitably laugh it right out of the room. "Free

Alto" is where he goes for it on saxophone, getting right into screaming overtones with the kind of conceptual

forthrightness that marks the extreme solos of players such as Roscoe Mitchell and Marshall Allen. It is only the

flabbiness of some of the pitches Flynt attempts that gives away his primitive technique on the saxophone, and to some

ears the music would sound much better, screams included, if that weren't the case. This track may wind up being a

laudable accomplishment in search of an audience, as the horn torture freaks who like this kind of stuff are probably

going to say they prefer listening to the well-established heroes. OK, listen to a performance by a hornman in the latter

category and this one side by side -- please. Not only will it be good clean fun, but surprised sax snobs may admit Flynt

more than holds his own. Click back to the opening third of the set for the best music, however. "Marines Hymn" is the

newest piece, the only one from the '70s and despite its title a haunting non-military work, again raga-influenced. With

slight string accompaniment, Flynt turns in a concentrated and quite moving vocal performance, and this time the Indian

musicians listening will nod in approval. A set of four short pieces entitled "Central Park Transverse Vocal" is the high

point of Raga Electric. Knowing Flynt, there must be more to the concept than just showing up in one of those Central Park

tunnels and recording weird vocals, but even if that's all this is about, it is a set of sublime moments on the trail of a

visionary spirit captured up to his eyebrows in creativity, as usual