Coming from Reality
Recorded in 1971 as the second chapter in this legendarily under-the-radar Detroit bard's career, COMING FROM REALITY reads like the coda to a hippie dream the singer never got to have. Dylan, Donovan, and the Beatles remain the primary influences here, but the vision and approach is all his own: images are simultaneously psychedelic and stark, lyrical themes both sociopolitical and inner, and arrangements both embroidered and hard-hitting. Much like that of FOREVER CHANGES-era Arthur Lee, the "reality" of this title encompasses both a vivid romantic's sense of heaven and a nihilist's sense of hell.
The gentle suite "Sandrevan Lullaby-Lifestyles" finds nightmarish poetics ("The generals hate holidays/Others shoot-up to chase the sun blues away/Another store-front church is open") framed by rich strings while "It Started Out So Nice" repeats the same trick with sci-fi overtones. COMING FROM REALITY's emotional centerpiece happens with "A Most Disgusting Song"--a talking-blues/country tune based on the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"--that chronicles in indelible detail a gig at a dive full of seriously hung-up characters and plays like an absurdist fusion of Dylan's "Desolation Row" and Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Disturbing stuff but, all told, an album as unexpected and essential as COLD FACT.
The gentle suite "Sandrevan Lullaby-Lifestyles" finds nightmarish poetics ("The generals hate holidays/Others shoot-up to chase the sun blues away/Another store-front church is open") framed by rich strings while "It Started Out So Nice" repeats the same trick with sci-fi overtones. COMING FROM REALITY's emotional centerpiece happens with "A Most Disgusting Song"--a talking-blues/country tune based on the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"--that chronicles in indelible detail a gig at a dive full of seriously hung-up characters and plays like an absurdist fusion of Dylan's "Desolation Row" and Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Disturbing stuff but, all told, an album as unexpected and essential as COLD FACT.
$18.00
Original: $60.00
-70%Coming from Reality—
$60.00
$18.00Description
Recorded in 1971 as the second chapter in this legendarily under-the-radar Detroit bard's career, COMING FROM REALITY reads like the coda to a hippie dream the singer never got to have. Dylan, Donovan, and the Beatles remain the primary influences here, but the vision and approach is all his own: images are simultaneously psychedelic and stark, lyrical themes both sociopolitical and inner, and arrangements both embroidered and hard-hitting. Much like that of FOREVER CHANGES-era Arthur Lee, the "reality" of this title encompasses both a vivid romantic's sense of heaven and a nihilist's sense of hell.
The gentle suite "Sandrevan Lullaby-Lifestyles" finds nightmarish poetics ("The generals hate holidays/Others shoot-up to chase the sun blues away/Another store-front church is open") framed by rich strings while "It Started Out So Nice" repeats the same trick with sci-fi overtones. COMING FROM REALITY's emotional centerpiece happens with "A Most Disgusting Song"--a talking-blues/country tune based on the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"--that chronicles in indelible detail a gig at a dive full of seriously hung-up characters and plays like an absurdist fusion of Dylan's "Desolation Row" and Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Disturbing stuff but, all told, an album as unexpected and essential as COLD FACT.
The gentle suite "Sandrevan Lullaby-Lifestyles" finds nightmarish poetics ("The generals hate holidays/Others shoot-up to chase the sun blues away/Another store-front church is open") framed by rich strings while "It Started Out So Nice" repeats the same trick with sci-fi overtones. COMING FROM REALITY's emotional centerpiece happens with "A Most Disgusting Song"--a talking-blues/country tune based on the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"--that chronicles in indelible detail a gig at a dive full of seriously hung-up characters and plays like an absurdist fusion of Dylan's "Desolation Row" and Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Disturbing stuff but, all told, an album as unexpected and essential as COLD FACT.
