howlin rainMy first time listening to "Magnificent Fiend" the new album by Howlin' Rain was a revelation. After years of skimming thrift shops, digging through flea markets and wrestling junk in Ameoba for all the 70’s gold I could find it was like discovering a band that had somehow slipped through the cracks. Like the time I bought DUST’s "Hard Attack" because it had a cool cover. When I got home and threw it on the record player I almost had my own heart attack. This eight track, second album is an aural tour through 70’s rock, jam, country, gospel and psychedelica. And that’s just the second song. Fronted by Ethan Miller from the psychedelic experimental freak-out that is Comets On Fire, this album feels like his ultimate indulgence. Crooning and wailing over a band of expert musicians, it feels like Ethan has side-stepped from the technical and chaotic noise of Comets to take it easy and make some smooth, rockin’, crucial grooves. Where as Comets have always thrilled with dissonance, it is Howlin’ Rain’s elegant unity in a band that makes these songs so lush and wonderful. This is striking, soaring music utilizing organs, grand pianos, harmonies, electric phasers, trombones, trumpets, slide guitar, saxophone, and tambourines in addition to the usual suspects, guitars, bass and drums. Every player gets his moment to shine, we are not dealing with straightforward woo-woo ditties, lasting up to eight minutes, the songs take you on a journey through sound. Each instrument deftly picks up where the other left off to curl around, wander off - but always returning to the story at hand.
There is a point in ‘Lord Have Mercy’ where the Faustian narrator sings to the girl he is trying to seduce “…Lucy, my love, climb into my Grand Torino…” that is accompanied by a filthy little Hammond Organ riff. It’s a perfect moment, capturing the sexy, 70’s rock vibe and the lurking danger posed by rock’n’roll. The power to seduce, trick and absolutely possess its listeners. And about a minute later the song breaks into the cacophony of a gospeleqsue chorus that makes you want to throw your hands up and shake down your hair.
If nature and wonder is the god you worship than Howlin’ Rain is the gospel band tearing the church down with the frenzy of adoration. Each song captures a moment of love and anxious energy that bursts through in spurts, punctuated by the intake of breath and cradled by a guitar solo. Ethan’s sexy smokers rasp is the perfect compliment for the rolling, gorgeously conducted songs and the eerie, romantic lyrics. This is an album best listened to loudly while driving a pickup truck, barefoot, on a dusty country road, on your way to a party at the quarry.
The resurgence of interest in the 70’s rock sound has been accompanied by a rebirth of the nature conscious, science fiction and fantasy loving rock enthusiast, and "Magnificent Fiend" crystallizes the concerns and dreams of the movement. These are songs full of peacock feathers, fire, insect wings, thunder and love-makin’ nomads. The natural world is full of danger and mystery and man is but a delicate and brittle visitor. Which is why it’s absolutely perfect that Arik Roper, fabulous fantasy rock painter, did the delicate and dark watercolor art for the cover.
To carry this tone, the album opens with a short instrumental Requiem, as if to say “Folks it’s already over, we are now celebrating what once was.” And the second song, "Dancers at the End of Time" is homage to Michael Moorcock and his books about the end of the universe and the strange beings that live there. This apocalyptic tone is carried through the whole album with beautiful songs about adventure, war, death and letting go. Which is not to say this a pessimistic album, in fact it’s almost religious in it’s acceptance of the cycle of life and the beauty inherent. And all that accompanied by bitchin’ organs, Floyd Meddle-era breakdowns, Eagles harmonies, soft-rock sighs and Weehoo rock outs. Bless us all, this album is far fucking out!
:: Howlin Rain/Magnificent Fiend - Birdman Records/Rough Trade.
