You must be a Libra

During my mid-teens...

 ...amongst my circle of friends, there were quite a few albums knocking around that were freely lent and borrowed, in spite of them being treasured possessions: the purchase of a full price vinyl album represented a fair chunk of disposable cash to a 16 year old back then. Looking back, many of these records were pretty normal fare for that time, so 1967 saw Sgt Pepper, Are You Experienced, Safe as Milk, Cheap Thrills, Disraeli Gears and all the usual suspects being shared to death - and gradually getting more scratched! 

However, there was one album released that year which seemed to inhabit a slightly more exotic niche and have a cachet all of its own, with its mix of poetry, rock and strange electronic sounds, and all housed in a very trippy looking sleeve.

It was this.

"Cosmic Sounds" by The Zodiac. 

Or was it "The Zodiac" by Cosmic Sounds? 

Or "The Zodiac with Cosmic Sounds"? 

Or even "The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds - Celestial Counterpoint with Words and Music"?

It wasn't entirely clear.

Encouraged by the success of the Doors' debut album, Elektra label boss Jac Holzman hired Alex Hassilev of early 1960s folk group The Limeliters to produce an album of psychedelic music. Hassilev then asked Mort Garson - his partner in a production company - to write the music, with the "lyrics" provided by Jacques Wilson. 

So far, it sounds like a recipe for an instant psychedelic album and, indeed, the musicians involved reinforce this impression. There was Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on bass and Mike Melvoin on keys - all Wrecking Crew session players. Bud Shank also featured.

However, what really set this cash-in apart from the rest was the inclusion of Paul Beaver on one of the earliest Moog synthesisers. Although Beaver is the only credited synth player, it's highly likely that his long time collaborator Bernie Krause also played on the Zodiac album. Holzman had introduced Beaver to Krause and the pair pooled their money together to buy a Moog. "Cosmic Sounds" is regarded as the first rock album to feature the revolutionary instrument. 

  

 Beaver & Krause

Also appearing on the album are uncredited electric guitar (any bets on Tommy Tedesco being one of the guitarists?), sitar (naturally) and tablas - the last played by ace percussionist Emil Richards, who also played on a few Zappa albums.

Lumpy Gravy?

There are also some passages of original poetry delivered in a very manly baritone by Cyrus Faryar, a singer who worked on the fringes of the Spector organisation, when he formed the Modern Folk Quartet, before eventually ending up producing the Firesign Theatre, amongst other things. Faryar's an interesting character who's played with all sorts of people - including the late Dave Crosby - during a long and distinguished career.

I hadn't heard the album for a very long time - I'm guessing 50+ years - until I managed to snag a copy a few days ago. I was really surprised by how much of it I remembered, but was getting reacquainted with it a good experience?

Well, with the pedigree of its musicians it's certainly still listenable with plenty of psychedelic stylings - from folk rock through raga rock to guitar freak outs - that often work really well, with "Capricorn - The Uncapricious Climber" standing out for me with its mysterious vibe.

In the end, what really stops this album from being an A++ grade slab of psychedelia are the spoken passages - "478.5 is the wavelength of blue". A fascinating fact - if it is a fact - but not something I really want to hear on a record. The poetry really places the album firmly in the late 1960s, when it mattered far more what star sign you were born under. 

That said, I enjoyed revisiting the album and I won't wait fifty odd years to listen to it again. In fact, it's been played a few times here over the past couple of days. If you can screen out the spoken passages, it's really very good - the playing is great and the early use of Moog shows how effective a synth can be when used as an added musical texture.

So, a bit of a curio and very much of its time, but eminently listenable - but see what you think!

Oh, and like the sleeve says, play it in the dark, man...