Corky's Debt to His Father
The obscure, defiantly avant-rock Texas band the Red Krayola has been held together entirely through the persistence of Mayo Thompson. For a taste of Thompson at his most accessible, however, considerCorky's Debt to His Father, an album made in 1970, put on record in 1986, and finally released eight years later. The album features a softer Thompson sounding like a Texan Syd Barrett, with songs that are spare and mystical but ultimately friendly. While the band sticks mostly to the familiar sounds of folk guitars, pianos, deep horns, and heavy bass, the instrumental arrangements are designed to clink along and never quite reach harmony. What is created in the end is an uptight and warped version of the stripped-back country & western of late '60s Dylan. If Thompson could sing,Corky's Debt's jazz touches and linear quality might have made the record something of an AmericanAstral Weeks. Instead, we'll settle for coherence and a considerable amount of charm.--Roni Sarig