King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: Flight b741
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King Gizzard released their Umpteenth album (26th, 27th?) before a big North American Tour, and even by their own strange standards it has taken a turn for the unexpected. A Legitimate concern or in over their heads? MK Bennett takes the wheel.
Remember, your government will always set you free, accidentally.
The psychiatrist Humphry Osmond alongside Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman (who accidentally discovered the effects of LSD in 1943) believed that the controlled effects of LSD could help alcoholism and substance abuse sufferers, and ran their experiments accordingly, whilst those in charge believed it could be much more useful as an interrogation device, as a loosening of the will, the breaking apart of the id.
Eventually connecting with Aldous Huxley, Huxley and Osmond worked together to come up with a word to describe the effects of LSD. Huxley came up with “phanerothyme” by combining the Greek words for “to show” and “spirit” as well as the tagline: “To make this mundane world sublime, Take half a gram of phanerothyme.” Osmond came up with the phrase: psychedelic. He combined the Greek words for psyche (for mind or soul) and deloun (for show), along with his own rhyme: “To fathom Hell or soar angelic/Just take a pinch of psychedelic.” Osmond said the term meant “mind manifesting” and that it was “clear, euphonious and uncontaminated by other associations.”
Musicians get bored If they are music lovers of all sorts of music, then they have to decide on a consistent sound versus stretching their musicality and virtuosity unless they are lucky enough to be noted for it, like 10cc or Steely Dan for example. King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard are noted for not sitting still, musically. You will not know what a release sounds like until you hear it. This generally splits the internet into affirmation or complaint, though you don’t imagine it keeps the band awake at night either way.
On the face of it, KGATLW have released a Country album. In terms of The Americas, Country, like Metal and Hip Hop is seen as music made for, and by, the working classes. Absolute authenticity is demanded and expected. The approach here though, is not modern polished diamonds on their boots, post-Taylor, Uber Patriotic Country, but a sort of forgotten Psychedelic dirt on their faces and the soles of their shoes.
Like half-forgotten clips from The Old Grey Whistle Test, your uncle’s eight-track cassettes, a country pub you could never find again, this whole beautiful record is hallucinogenic in and of itself, a reminder of not just music, but movies, TV shows, culture that evolved into difference and never returned.
Of Course, Flight b741 is above all else a King Gizzard album, with all that suggests, and it opens with Mirage City, twelve bars of electricity on the intro before it settles into the new country of late period Byrds, stretching for that genius of Lovers Of The Bayou, and nearly reaching it. The harmonies alone are wonderful, before the coda, which sounds incredible, with harmonicas and a thousand guitars going hell for leather while the drums lock in. Even within these songs’ internal logic, there is as always a certain amount of genre redefinition, as this music never stops, and never sits in one place.
Antarctica somehow mixes Maggot Brain era Funkadelic with the Allman Brothers, even before the vocal starts, then mixes its metaphors wonderfully before hitting a Stones in Exile, French Chateau, languid afternoons of decadence vibe, at least musically.
Raw Feel is pure Country Rock, Poco, The First Edition, a tale of possible LCD manifestation, the need to explain through eyes that may not be yours, exemplary slide guitar gliding into part two, a chant for the ages, and likely for the festivals too. At some point, it starts to sound like a Kiwi version of Can, but it’s difficult to pinpoint when exactly. Field of Vision is ZZ Top via Dr Feelgood, a delirious twelve-bar beauty, Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter wearing sunglasses indoors while Burt Reynolds laughs at nothing in particular.
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard live in a rarified air of everything turning to gold. Naturally sitting in a school of absurdism parallel to The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Viv Stanshall in particular, not always rhythmically but conceptually Avant-Garde, drifting into the arena of unintentional genius.
Hog Calling Contest is suitably, gladly onomatopoeic, Sweethearts Of The Rodeo vintage, solemnly countrified with a magnificent guitar line and double-speed shuffling drums, and completely committed to the cause.
Le Risque is on the road, Canned Heat style, Harmonica to the front of the mix, with a shout-out for Evil Knievel for good measure. It is slinky and smooth, AM Radio on hot tarmac with the windows down.
Flight b741 is The Stones after faded stardom, Black And Blue, Some Girls, that grin of drunken promise, the riff in no rush to catch the rhythm. A song so devout in its melodies that it is Gospel, effectively. Another incredible arrangement of the vocals. Sad Pilot, is a Grateful Dead song that fell down the back of Jerry Garcia’s couch to emerge triumphant into one of Christopher Nolan’s heat dreams.
Rats In The Sky is a mix and match masterpiece of every decent Top Ten half-glam hit of the 70s, which segues into the nearly 8-Minute Daily Blues, where the band are reminded of some past musical endeavours and align themselves with the old Psychedelia whilst never venturing from that base Harmonica, Pedal Steel, heavenly backing vocals, blue collar reverie of the rest of this beautiful record.
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All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram
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