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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Long Overdue Re-Issue Of A Timeless Masterpiece, August 20, 2003
YEEEE-HAAWWW!!! Some big record industry type finally got a clue and released "The Zodiac/Cosmic Sounds" on CD after I've been searching for over 20 years! What's next---world peace?
The same day I discovered the CD release of the Gina Bachauer/Sir John Gielgud collaboration on the Bertrand/Ravel work Gespard de la Nuit (from about the same time period I guess, musta been something in the air)! Do we now get hit by the asteroid?
I bought this album in 68 or 69, when it was still current, and have cherished it ever since. A roomate of mine at college turned me on to it. I replaced it once soon after, having melted it in the back seat car window. At some juncture I elected to "clean" the record with one of those "record cleaning" rags you picked up at a discount department store and, gee whiz, I musta added too much water (the package said to add water "when needed"). The result of which was that I added a thin "crust" (when it dried) to the grooves of that, and a significant number of other greatly loved record albums I owned. Luckily, my record collection wasn't that large in those days. They still played, albeit with a new background noise, and sometimes the gum gathered in the grooves, causing them to skip.
So this is, like, GREAT TIDINGS indeed, to me, man, to learn of its availability again. Hallelujah!! Another lp/CD I recommend along this line is Graham Bond's "Holy Magick" (luckily, also now available), for all you mystics out there. The first 3 Tyrannosaurus Rex lps, "U" and others by The Incredible String Band, early Donovan, the first 4 or 5 Caravan albums, "Mr. Fantasy" by Traffic, "Their Satanic Majesties Request" by the Rolling Stones, first 7 Moody Blues lps, "In The Court Of The Crimson King"---King Crimson, "Stand Up", "Benefit" by Jethro Tull, The Doors, early Pink Floyd, "Wheels Of Fire" by Cream, the first 2 Renaissance albums (w/ Keith & Jane Relf), "Present Tense" by Sagittarius, "These Things Too", others by Pearls Before Swine, I could go on...
60s or no, the music, much of it played on exotic instruments, is timeless. Visions of Greek temples, Hindu, ancient Egyptian, Atlantean, are summoned up. Ethereal and uncanny, eerie and mysterious... There must be a God, after all.
In regards to one previous review---I don't even own a bathrobe, but I was living during the time of this lp, a fact for which I am eternally grateful. Otherwise, I'd be listening to **** and thinking that it's great, not having anything currently better to compare it to. Music (and I use the term loosely) which can best be described, borrowing a line from Shakespeare, as "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Now, I'm not down on all post 60s pop music, I even own and love some albums from early 90s bands (about as far as I could continue), it's just too few and far between. Recording technology has grown marvelously but, alas! Creativity and imagination, not to mention inspiration, have become inevitable casualties to crass commercialism and pretentious rich-kid posing, each trying to act like little crackerjack Jim Morrisons, Lou Reeds, Melanies, or something. Faux darkness, faux nihilism. Ho hum (yyaaaawwwnnn...)
The pioneering music on this lp stands on its own, but the spoken word does it no injustice, to say the least. It may be funny to, say, people whose idea of reading is the sports or sales section of the newspaper, or the pop-ups of MTV music videos, but I find no fault with the narrative. The theatrical vocalizations add another dimension of drama to the creation, and these brief, poetic descriptions of the astrological signs are as true to the mark as the proverbial Sagittarian arrow.
So, pour a glass of wine, and/or imbibe your favorite sacrament. This is an album best listened to at night ("must be played in the dark", as the album jacket admonishes), in a candle-lit (scented, of course) room, with a view out the window of the sky. Black lights and posters optional. Oh yeah, and don't forget the incense. What else is there?
"six times the chimes of karma,
free, in turn, the eternal harmony..."
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A happy Sagittarius here ..., December 5, 2004
I'd nearly forgotten about this offbeat gem from the 1960s -- how wonderful to find it available on CD after so long! It's a perfect artifact of that time, reminding us that the willingness to be silly & ridiculous was a virtue then, as it encouraged creativity in totally unexpected directions. Ah, to take creative risks as naturally as breathing ... (A pity that attitude is frowned upon today.) Trippy, goofy fun, a vista of dazzling colors seen with the widest of star-filled eyes ... a world that can't revel in something like this psychedelic delight is all the poorer for it!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You wont believe this: This is one of rock's best!, November 25, 2004
The Zodiac, the greatest semi-band in the world? This little piece of work is their only album together, though many of them had and would work together again in other stuff. Anyhoohas, the music is excellent, and the narration is...we, the narration is utterly 60s. It says "Must Be Played In The Dark" on the cover, and that's approporiate, but for the words, an additional "Must be Played While Stoned" would be nice. Cyrus Faryar has a cool voice, but Jac Wilson's words are so dated and sound so silly now that it sounds totally absurd. My dad laughs every time he hears the words, expecially "six men and six trees" on Taurus.
The Moog is hot stuff on this one. PaulBeaver blows off some sweet riffs. Emil Richards shows off fine percussive tricks, Hal Blaine shows fine drumming, finer than any of his session work. Carol Kaye has some fine bass goin' too. Bud Shank can creep you out with his flute work, Nobody knows the guitar players' names, which is sad, 'cause they give this a hot California acid rock feel that makes me wonder when Grace Slick will jump in. Wilson's poetry sounds pretty Jim Morrison also!
Highlights:
Leo-Lord Of Lights, this is the happiest song on the album. Real coo, guitar funk there!
Taurus-The Voluptuary: Heavy Metal synth blasts the opening riff into youe ears and some creepy flute keeps you goin.
Sagittarius-The Versatile Daredevil: Circus music gone mad. Swirling sythns tricks and Cyrus's slightly crazy vocals make this worthwhile
Capricorn-The Uncapricious Climber: More creepy flute and some exotic synth make this is cool little piece of ghost rock.
In my personal list of the Ten Best Rock Albums, this is right there at ten! Believe me, the narration is a bit silly, but the voice si cool and the music is top notch! This is one truly forgotten classic.
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by The Zodiac 
