The Third Mind, a wonderfully anachronistic band whose music recalls the best of 1960s psychedelia, got off to a terrific start with its eponymous 2020 debut. The album features singer, songwriter, and Grammy-winning guitarist Dave Alvin; singer and songwriter Jesse Sykes; bassist Victor Krummancher, a former member of the rock bands Camper Van Beethoven and Eyelids; drummer Michael Jerome, a longtime player in Richard Thompson’s group; and Counting Crows guitarist David Immergluck. Ostensibly without rehearsing or arranging, they simply turned on the tape recorders and improvised with stellar results on such numbers as “The Dolphins,” from the late, great singer/songwriter Fred Neil; Bonnie Dobson’s classic “Morning Dew”; and three versions of “East/West,” which, like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s original, are loaded with guitar pyrotechnics.
A second album from the group – whose moniker comes from the title of a book co-written by William S. Burroughs – proved that the first one was no fluke. Once again committed to improvisation, the band delivered stretched-out, reimagined renditions of such tunes as “Sally Go Round the Roses,” the 1963 “girl group” hit from the Jaynetts; “Groovin Is Easy,” from the Electric Flag’s 1968 debut; “Why Not Your Baby,” from the Byrds’ Gene Clark; and “A Little Bit of Rain,” from Neil.
For anyone who doubted whether the group’s freshman and sophomore releases were created live in the studio, we now have an album from the Third Mind that shows it can deliver the goods in front of audiences. Called Live Mind, the record was recorded in Dallas and at two Southern California venues in February and March of last year. The lineup changed slightly for these gigs, with Immergluck replaced on guitar by Mark Karan, whose credits include many years of playing with Grateful Dead alumni. In addition, session player Jack Rudy, who performed on the debut LP, guests on harmonica, and L.A. multi-instrumentalist Willie Aron, who appeared on the sophomore album, guests on keyboards.
Owners of the first two CDs may be disappointed by the extent to which the hour-long program here overlaps with the earlier ones. The only newcomers in this seven-song set are Sykes’s “Doralee,” which she previously recorded with her group the Sweet Hereafter, and the Dead’s iconic “Dark Star.” Versions of the other numbers all appeared on the first two albums. They include “Sally Go Round the Roses,” “Groovin’ Is Easy,” “Morning Dew,” “A Little Bit of Rain,” and – in its fourth version by the Third Mind – “East/West.”
Especially because the earlier recordings were apparently made live in the studio, the new ones are arguably a tad redundant. As such, listeners might have been a bit better served by something fresh – particularly since you can’t help wondering what the Third Mind could do with material from other groups from the era that they frequently mine, such as the Blues Project, Spirit, and Jefferson Airplane.
That said, the music on Live Mind is consistently thrilling and lives up to Karan’s claim that “we reinterpret the songs nightly, never playing anything exactly the same way twice.” If you’re a fan of expansive, guitar-driven, psychedelia-influenced 1960s rock, all three of this adventurous group’s albums constitute must-hear material.
An Anthology Collects Overlooked Alt-Country from Souled American
The four Illinois musicians who formed the alt-country band Souled American in 1986 quickly won a contract from Rough Trade’s U.S. subsidiary. However, their prospects dimmed over the subsequent decade, as the six records they released for that label and a small German one failed to earn them the popularity or name recognition enjoyed by such similarly focused outfits as Wilco and Uncle Tupelo. Jim Rondinelli, who produced their debut LP, went on to work with both those other groups but says Souled American is “far and away the most unique and fresh and talented band I ever worked with.”
Perhaps now the group will attract more attention. Last fall, it released a new song and performed its first shows in 13 years. And, on February 21, the Omivore label will issue Rise Above It: A Souled American Anthology. The 20-track compendium (which comes with a booklet that includes lyrics and a band history) collects songs from all six of its hard-to-find albums.
This is engrossing but challenging and often quirky material. The group draws on traditional country and employs instruments like mandolin, pedal steel, and accordion but also sometimes evidences the reggae-band roots of two of its members. The music seems dirge-like and meandering at times, and the impressionistic lyrics are frequently abstruse. “Lottery Brazil,” for example, begins, “The mountain calls the ants / This is no epic romance / For the fool in the hole / Gold runs through the veins / So they razed it in a daze.” Then there’s “Wind to Dry,” whose first lines are “Deceit defeat self-acknowledgment searches for a man to find / A creek sustains in a boot that’s full of rain, looking for a fan to dry.” Huh?
Don’t be put off. This music may be enigmatic and idiosyncratic but repeated listens to many of the tracks reveal their beauty. Highlights include “Around the Horn,” which could be mistaken for something on a Neil Young album; an otherworldly-sounding cover of Fred Rose’s “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain”; and “Before Tonight,” which Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy has said he wishes he could have written.
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains five decades’ worth of music reviews, interviews, and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.
