Customer Reviews

Inside the Dream Syndicate 1: Day of Niagara 1965

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Do you wish that you could listen to 30 minute plus chorus of electric razors? Are you moved by the spin cycle on your washing machine..? Do you like to meditate beneath a perpetually buzzing streetlight? If not, this IS NOT the recording for you. If you do crave and intense and endless drone, you'll love this one. If you're in New York, check out La Monte Young's Dream House. After a visit there, you'll crave more of the drone. This album gives me vivid dreams that I can touch smell and taste while they are happening, yet I can never remember them when they are over. It sets the tone for a unique psychological adventure...but only if you are ready to partake.

....The Dream Music which these artists crafted was realized in order
to create an atmosphere, a transcendental anti-consciousnes, in which
the many conotations of the self (including the notion of authorship)
were meant to be eradicated. This ideology was acheived through an
aesthetic seemingly equal parts aggressive-sound (the multitude of
frenetic, scraping micro-movement found in the clashing of overtones),
and trance-like state (achieved through the continous, singular
drone). This recording is absolutely not the most technical, clearly
mastered recording possible of this music, but I would make the
argument that it is just this aural grit that lends itself to the
overall aesthetic. The sound quality is in tandem with the music,
hazy, blurred, yet also metallic and harsh, furthering the conjunction
between the original intentions. The tape is obviously unedited,
lurching to a start, already in full throttle, then spluttering to a
glorious end, as if retreating into the holy vacuum from which it
came. This revolutionary disk is not only important, but an
exhilirating experience, one which I think is in keeping with the
forgotten beliefs of this often misconstrued group of collaborators.

This album (similar to Sonic Youth's "Silver Session for Jason Knuth") is one tremendous wall of sound. Don't get me wrong, the wall of sound pulsates from time to time, but mostly the two violins, yelling, and minimalistic percussion float in a sea of blissful sound for over half of an hour. Sound like torture? In many others hands it would have been, but Cale, Young & crew aren't spitting out random sounds but tickling places in your mind that you lay previously unaware of. I'm not saying your going to gain E.S.P.; but you just might find you're unable to resist listening to the entire album. Even if, intellectually, you find yourself put off by the music (or lack of). Something in that shrill wall of sound just wont let you press stop. If you enjoy Eno, Cage, Cale or other similar shapers of sound, this is a must for your collection. If you've never seen any of these names before, pass it by.

The theory behind this composition is complex, abstruse, mathematical. Its goal is the same as many other more conventional works - to express the otherwise inexpressible by communicating with parts of the brain not touched by normal experience. That being said, it is not an easy listen. I confess that I have so far been unable to enter a trance state brought on by this music, but then, I have not been able to listen to it all the way through. One gets the basic idea of the work after 30 seconds, but had it been limited to that length, it undoubtedly would not carry the weight of "importance" the 30 minute duration confers. That, by the way, is a fairly long trance state; beginners would be advised to limit journeys to no more than 5 or 10 minutes, working their way up gradually.

Aside from any metaphysical or musicological considerations, this recording is historically valuable, especially as one of the very few affordable examples of the few La Monte Young recordings available commercially.

Let me begin by saying I am an ardent fan of Young and everything associated with him. Like many others, I am sure, I am blown away by the concepts governing his music, his work with just intonation, as well as his overall career arc and evolution as an artist. That being said, I personally think this disc falls nearly within the category of "atrocious."

The story goes (and this is the concise version) that at some point while under Young's mentorship, Arnold Dreyblatt (whose own music is generally fantastic, I might add) made a copy of one of Young's many archived performance tapes from the '60s without Young's knowledge. Dreyblatt played it for a friend, copies were made, etc. etc., and thus we today have what is essentially a bootlegged version of "Day of Niagara."

Although Young admits that he may have consented to a proper release of this performance had he been given sole authorship credit (the reason it is out of print is because he never consented), he has also posted a thorough critique on the MELA Foundation website in which he meticulously points out the many flaws inherent in the tape (Cale's viola cuts out temporarily, several seconds of the performance are missing due to an engineering error made when copying the tape, etc.). In addition to the fact that Young claims the sound on his original master tape is enormously preferable to this CD version, he points out that there are several other taped performances of this same ensemble during that time period which feature both better sound quality and a superior performance.

Regardless of whether or not Young's claims are verifiable (I assume that they are), I personally believe this is a performance which was never meant to see the light of day, and probably never SHOULD have seen the light of day. Although it must have been amazing to witness this live in the rehearsal space, the sound quality of this recording is in no way sufficient for accurately rendering the sonorities which must be perceived to make this music effective. The subtleties which must have been present in the harmonics generated by the drones, as well as the nuances of each member's performance, are all but imperceptible on this recording. The listener is left wallowing in one messy, distorted drone for a half hour, which is hardly representative of the quality of music conceived and created by Young or his bandmates during this time period.

I am giving this release two stars merely for its historical value, although the merit of its existence, even in that regard, is sketchy at best. My advice is to skip this and shell out the big money for the out-of-print "Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer," which has impeccable sound quality and is a far better example of La Monte Young's pioneering work with just intonation and long, sustained tones.

I admit that this can be rather difficult music to enter. But I would say that it is absolutely impossible to "get the basic idea" of this piece after 30 seconds, as an earlier reviewer stated. This music requires time to reveal itself. Furthermore, the piece is in a constant state of transformation--and so is the listener. That said, the recording quality doesn't help much; the drums are all but inaudible and the blend of strings and voices is less than ideal. Also, when comparing this recording to others I have heard by this group of musicians, I find the performance to be somewhat less convincing. Hard to say why. Perhaps the stars were a bit out of alignment? Give the piece time, though. It's worth it.

Peace
jr

This music is deeply moving on an emotional level. It also has some great tracks to dance to as well. Overall, you get both emotionally touching music that touches your heart and can even make you cry, and also you can listen to some of it and dance to it and have alot of fun. The entire recording is like traveling through all of the emotional states one can be in, and afterwards all you want to do it listen to it again!