Origine du Groupe : North America
Style : Rock Psychedelic , Progressive Rock
Sortie : 1974-1976
By Andy Perseponko from http://www.jptscareband.com
These recordings from the Kansas City threesome, JPT Scare Band, from 1973-75, have been
bootlegged for eons at pricey sums. Finally, Monster Records delivers the prime cut of
psychedelic hard rock to you, the people, and hopefully the band members will finally get to
see some cash flow out of their work.
If the band had a signed record contract back in the early ’70s, there is no doubt they
would be up there with Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Black Sabbath for guitar overload
damage. Unfortunately, these recordings never really made it out of the inner circles of hard
psych heads. Of course, Sleeping Sickness isn’t a copy of those bands or their styles, but the
main focus here is very long (often 10 minute plus) jams that concentrate on the guitar playing
of Terry Swope.
Swope takes a riff and destroys it over and over, until you aren’t sure what came before the
moment you are in. A perfect example of this is the Hendrix-y opener and title song, "Sleeping
Sickness." After a funky opening, a tight riff starts to dominate the song. After the verse-chorus
part, Swope takes flight with about 10 minutes of pure guitar damage. Solos twine in and out of
each other, with excellent use of feedback and fuzz pedals, while drummer Jeff Littrell and
bassist Paul Grigsby seem almost telepathic and tapped into wherever Swope is taking his
guitar.
Perhaps what makes Sleeping Sickness stand out more than anything is that it doesn’t sound
dated at all. I am sure there were bands all over America at that time, gathering in basements
and playing for hours and hours under a variety of conditions. The JPT Scare Band recorded
most of this stuff in the basement of their party house in Kansas City. While it does date from
the mid-’70s, Sleeping Sickness definitely has a "’60s" feel about it, in terms of the freedom of
the players and how well they play together, as opposed to the bass and drums sitting back
while the guitar player gets all the glory. Of course, the guitar is the star of this show, but it
wouldn’t be anywhere near as entertaining if the other musicians didn’t keep their collective
feet on the ground, at least a little bit.
While the sonic fidelity on this isn’t exactly up to Pink Floyd standards, that isn’t what you are
getting this for anyway. This is a classic snapshot into the basement of a true American Rock
Band doing what they do best. It is easy to imagine all their friends freaking freely to their
brand of tripped-out, space-vibe rock. Interesting liner and production notes round out this
great package (lots of photos, lyrics, etc.) and proves that, in the mid-’70s, not all of American
rock was asleep or staring at its navel.
Tracklist :
01 - Sleeping Sickness
02 - Acid Acetate Excursion
03 - Slow Sick Shuffle
04 - King Rat
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