Parallelograms.

 I am listening to a brilliant album called Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs which I bought about six years ago. This is what I said about it at the time.

Linda Perhacs is an American psychedelic folk singer, who released her album Parallelograms in 1970 to scant notice or sales. The album was rediscovered by record enthusiasts and grew in popularity with the rise of the New Weird America movement and the Internet. It was reissued on CD and 2-LP in 2005, and again in 2008. I found it had been released by Sunbeam Masters in a limited numbered edition of 1000 copies so ordered it and my copy arrived. I am number 0184. It has a very attractive gate-fold sleeve and liner notes written by Linda herself. I must say it is a quite brilliant album and hard to define. I am listening to it now on a rainy Winter’s morning. I really like the opening track Chinacum Rain. It reminds me a little bit of the song Wind Chimes on the Beach Boys Smiley Smile album. 'I'm Seeing silences between leaves', sings Linda. The vocals shimmer like sunlight on a lake. I am not so enamored of the second track Paper Mountain Man which is quite bluesy and featuring harmonica. The third track though, Dolphin is wonderful.  Her vocals are amazing and just accompanied by acoustic guitar. Call Of The River is next. The way the vocals are mixed, so she harmonises with herself is very clever. Sandy Toes is more upbeat. The title track Parallelograms is next, and it is a tour de force that I urge you to listen to. On first hearing it I thought Joni Mitchell meets Pink Floyd. Considering it is 40 years old it is very experimental and avant-garde. How people didn't pick up on this album when it came out is hard to understand because it was in the zeitgeist of the times but apparently it didn't get any airplay or publicity. Hey, Who Really Cares is the next track which is followed by Moons And Cattails.

Morning Colors is the next track which is superb, featuring some beautiful flute playing. The flute is an instrument that goes really well with psychedelic music because it’s so spacey. Porcelain Baked-Over Cast-Iron Wedding is quite vitriolic about the shallow middle-class values of some of the people where she lives. This is one of the more conventional songs on the album. The last track is called Delicious which is exactly that. There are eight bonus tracks on the album including a BBC interview from 2005. Check it out for yourselves. I heartily recommend this album which I have enjoyed listening to this morning and it's even made the sun come out.