| The Parable of Arable Land | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Red Krayola (with the Familiar Ugly) |
| Cover: | File:Parable of Arable Land1 (2).jpg |
| Released: | June 1967 |
| Recorded: | April 1 – May 11, 1967 |
| Studio: | Andrus Studio, Houston |
| Length: | 41:17 |
| Label: | International Artists |
| Producer: | Lelan Rogers |
| Chronology: | The Red Krayola |
| Next Title: | God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
The Parable of Arable Land is the first studio album by the Red Crayola (later known as Red Krayola), released in June 1967 on record label International Artists. The album features notable instrumental cameos by label mate and 13th Floor Elevators frontman Roky Erickson.
The album, originally considered psychedelic music when it was released, featured free improvised pieces, entitled
The Parable of Arable Land was ranked number 18 on the NME's list "Top 100 Cult Albums to Hear Before You Die", number 57 on Spin magazine's "Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s", and number 169 on Uncut magazine's "the 500 Greatest Albums of the 1960s".[2] [3]
The Familiar Ugly was a group of 50 people who joined the Red Crayola on stage with music that was made on anything from industrial power tools to a revving motorcycle. They perform on the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks that are present between each song on the album. The liner notes to the album which were written by producer Lelan Rogers, make mention of other instruments that were used by the Familiar Ugly such as matchsticks and a Coca-Cola bottle.
Drummer Rick Barthelme later reflected: "At heart we were as elitist as could be, but these folks came to our shows and some we knew and most we did not know, but whenever we played, there they were, ready to mount the stage and screech until the last plug was pulled, and there we were, ready to invite them – the Familiar Ugly, we dubbed ’em."[4]
After playing as a five-piece consisting of all three original members plus Bonnie Emerson and Danny Schacht, the group split back to the original trio and instead called every added member a part of the Familiar Ugly.[5] "Free Form Freak-Out" was a marketing term coined by record producer Lelan Rogers who proposed the idea of having the album intermingle songs with the Familiar Ugly, fading one into the other as well as having Rick Barthelme take up a tribal drumbeat instead of a standard rock beat for "War Sucks".[6]
Mayo Thompson details the formation of the Familiar Ugly and the origin of "Free Form Freak-Out" in an interview conducted on December 26, 2011 "Conversation with Mayo Thompson: Part One"
The Familiar Ugly were recorded on April Fool's Day 1967 in a three-hour evening session on one master tape, it was done on eight tracks with eight microphones, one per channel. The other tracks on the album were recorded on 3 different sessions from April–May (one of the sessions contained unreleased recordings titled "F.R.E.D" and “Water Vessel" but they have been presumed lost[7]). The band had written other songs besides the one's featured on the album, such as 'Mother', 'Concrete Block', 'Vile Vile Grass', 'There There Betty Betty' and 'In My Baby's Ruth' but they failed to make the final cut. The lyrics to 'Hurricane Fighter Plane' and 'War Sucks' were improvised on the day of recording.[8]
According to Lelan Rogers, producer Walt Andrus had mistakenly folded the Familiar Ugly session to mono, leading to Andrus creating an artificial stereo mix for the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks.[9] For the stereo mix the songs were processed through a stereo effects chamber with added psychedelic effects (such as loops, reversed tapes and speed fluctuations).[10] Mayo Thompson later stated:
After the band had finalized the backing tracks for the songs, Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators was invited in to play the organ part on 'Hurricane Fighter Plane' and harmonica on 'Transparent Radiation'.
Allegedly, due to his heavy use of psychedelics, Erickson was already "out there", prompting Tommy Hall to step in as a translator for Erickson, guiding Thompson to show him the chord changes.Drummer Rick Barthelme was unhappy with the recorded "Free Form Freak-Out" and remarked: "The first LP, The Parable of Arable Land is a wonder if you are wasted, and a poor example otherwise, as the nice guy who recorded it did it on two tracks instead of thirty-two, thus flattening the thing out somewhat."
The band took influences from a variety of different artists, some of them were Frank Zappa, the Fugs and Albert Ayler.[11] [12] As well as avant-garde music composers John Cage and Harry Partch.[4]
Mayo Thompson talked about Red Krayola's relation with punk rock: "I would say, the mindset of those people in the '70s was something like our mindset in the mid-'60s. They hated everything too that had happened before--'we're not necessarily going to clean the slate, but we're going to burn everything down and then we're going to start over again. Or in the process, we're going to burn down everything as a starting over again.' [...] So some people would say, this is proto-punk - that was where we got lumped, a little bit."[13]
Drummer Rick Barthelme had this to say about their music: "From our vantage out on the edge, Zappa and Velvet Underground, and other more conventionally strange bands [...] were ordinary musicians trying to do something different and still function within the rock & roll framework. We said fuck the framework, listen to this, motherfucker. And then busted your eardrum. And we did it over and over from 1966 to 1968." When asked about the proto-punk label he responded with "I don't really know if that's true, but wouldn't it be lovely to think so?".[14]
The album cover was drawn by George Banks, the informal manager of the 13th Floor Elevators - he was also the illustrator behind the album cover for Easter Everywhere and other International Artists releases.
Although all of the songs are credited as being written by the whole band, an interview with the band from the second issue of Mother: Houston's Rock Magazine (1968) states the following: "Hurricane Fighter Plane" was written by Thompson, Barthelme and Thompson wrote the lyrics to "War Sucks" whilst the music was written by the whole band, Barthelme wrote the lyrics to "Pink Stainless Tail" and "Transparent Radiation" whilst the music was written by Thompson, "Parable of Arable Land" was written by the whole band while "Former Reflections Enduring Doubt" was entirely written by Cunningham.[15]
Tracks recorded before their debut album in a March 1967 demo session were released on the International Artists archive compilation Epitaph For A Legend in 1980, and subsequently re-released on the 2011 reissue of The Parable of Arable Land.
In a retrospective review of the compilation album Richie Unterberger wrote: "The five Red Krayola demos are prime acid folk". Unterberger also assessed "Hurricane Fighter Plane" as being "one of the closest American approximations of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd.[16] Thompson's lyrics, while seemingly fitting in with the often surreal tone of typical 1960s psychedelic lyrics, actually demonstrate a more literary and artistic approach than what was common in rock music of the time. Mayo Thompson discussed the demo tracks in an interview with Richie Unterberger in 1996: "They wanted to know, 'What material do you have?' 'Cause they'd heard us play live [...] So they sent us in this small 16-track demo studio. We got there and we thought we were going to be able to do some interesting recording, and found out that they just wanted a version of the tunes [...] They never were meant as releasable material, in the usual sense. Those are archival tapes, I would say. The performances are what they are".[17]
In a 1978 promotional booklet for the Radar Records reissues of International Artists material, Lelan Rogers mentions that the reason the Red Krayola never released a single was due in part to the controversy surrounding the sentimental lyrics in “War Sucks” - because of this, the album received little to no airplay as most radio stations refused to play the record. Additionally, Rogers claimed the album was already being supported by the 13th Floor Elevators who had been selling well, so there was no need to release a single.
According to Lelan Rogers, The Parable of Arable Land originally sold 50,000 copies when it was first released and sold out its original pressing.[18] At the time, the album was made on 600 dollars.[8] Mayo Thompson remarked that they accomplished this with no advertising or promotion: "We sold 8-10,000 records in New York, and we sold some records in L.A., some in Frisco. Major urban centers, obviously. International Artists did not advertise. There were no band photographs. There was no promotion. This was making a virtue of your shortcomings. This was the beginnings of alternative rock".[17]
The Berkeley Barbs Ed Denson briefly reviewed the album in an article regarding the 1967 Berkeley Folk Festival which included a short set by Red Krayola. "Their first LP was released by that strange Houston company International Artists, and it is selling far more than it should be because it looks like a rock LP and the liner notes, which are deceptive, make it sound sort of like the mothers or something else which is recognizable". Denson described the Familiar Ugly tracks as "just background noise", and wrote "I like two of the cuts very much: 'War Sucks' and 'The Parable of Arable Land', and no doubt so will you about the third time thru. It took me that long."[19]
The Chicago Seed reviewed the record on July 7, 1968, and described it as being "probably the freakiest album ever recorded", with "Hurricane Fighter Plane" having "the freakiest lyrics ever" and the group making the ultimate statement on violence in "War Sucks". The article ends with a request to listen to the music while under the influence: "highly recommended for listening to when stoned, especially for the amazing channel separation."[20]
Record Mirror wrote about the album in 1978, assessing "Transparent Radiation" as "almost a normal song" and comparing Mayo Thompson's voice to sounding "terribly like Talking Heads, David Byrne" and the song as a whole as a "total effect not unlike some Roxy Music opus, whilst "War Sucks" was spoken briefly about as an "odd raga weaving in and out".[21]
Pitchfork regarded The Parable of Arable Land as being "one of the most visionary album[s]" of 1967, also noting that "listeners weren't sure whether the racket was the result of sharp intellectualism, sheer incompetence, or buzzed-out substance abuse."[22] Trouser Press wrote that the album "boasts a more engaged intelligence than most of the era's aural acid baths".[23] Mark Deming of AllMusic remarked that "The Parable of Arable Land exists on a plane all its own; if art-damaged noise rock began anywhere, it was on this album."
Additionally, AllMusic remarked that the album made Trout Mask Replica "sound downright normal". The Dallas Observer noted that the songs "foreshadowed new wave, post-punk and art rock"[24] whilst another retrospective review branded the "stripped down simplicity and caustic lyrics" as a rarely acknowledged precursor to punk.[25] Creative Loafing[26] would assess the album as a precursor to post-rock.[27] Spin described "Transparent Radiation" as "the great-grandfather of the Spacemen 3/Spiritualized interstellar exploration division" and mentioned how "Hurricane Fighter Plane" had been covered many times.[28]
The songs on side A and side B are the same for both mono and stereo versions; however, on the original LP, each song following the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks is marked with a lengthy subtitle taken from the songs lyrics (except for the title track which is an instrumental sound collage and instead has its own special text). In 2011, Peter Kember of Spacemen 3 (otherwise known as "Sonic Boom") would remaster the album at New Atlantis studios from the original master tapes as part of a deluxe reissue.
In the 2011 Sonic Boom remaster, there are only 12 tracks displayed, as the "Free Form Freak-Out" following War Sucks is added as part of the song.
In 2011, The Parable of Arable Land was selected by Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT for inclusion in NME list of "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard". He added, "I was pretty blown away by the fact that people were making sounds before Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and all the other ‘classic’ psychedelic albums, and that the sounds were being made by guys in Texas doing shitloads of LSD and making these completely wild records. I think it’s good that more people listen to them, because they go unheralded a lot of the time".[29]
Irish radio broadcaster Joe S. Harrington featured the LP on his "top 100 albums of all time" list.[30]
Jimi Hendrix owned a copy of The Parable of Arable Land - Kathy Etchingham believes that Hendrix picked up the album on an impulse because the cover artwork was similar in style to his own drawings.[31]
According to Reuters, the album had come to the attention of the Beatles, whilst British DJ John Peel reportedly could not wait to turn it off, he would later play excerpts from the album on his radio show a few years later amidst the album's reissue on Radar Records.
Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream featured "Hurricane Fighter Plane" in his memoir, Thompson also produced the band's debut album Sonic Flower Groove.[32]
Madlib sampled "Former Reflections Enduring Doubt" on "Centauri".
Spacemen 3 recorded a version of "Transparent Radiation",[33] and Spectrum, fronted by ex–Spacemen 3 member Peter Kember, released an EP with a cover of "War Sucks" as the title track. David Berman of Silver Jews cited the record as a favorite, as well as Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV[34] and Todd Tamanend Clark.[35] [36]
Osees borrowed the bass riff of "Hurricane Fighter Plane" for their song "Block of Ice". Frontman John Dwyer remarked: "Block of Ice was obviously inspired by Red Krayola. We were doing a show with them, and have always loved them [...] When we opened with it at the show, they ended up doing 'Hurricane Fighter Plane' for like 15 minutes. Pretty rad."[37]
Additionally, a re-recorded version of "Hurricane Fighter Plane" with drummer Jesse Chamberlain would be released as a flexi disc in 1978 to promote Radar Record's re-issue of Parable of Arable Land.[38] Notable artists such as The Cramps[39] and Alien Sex Fiend would cover the song. Steve Albini mentions in an unfinished Red Krayola documentary, that he recalls many bands covering the track, artists who covered the song include the Pastels, Nik Turner (Inner City Unit) and the Pin Group.
Punk bands such as Really Red and Barkmarket would cover "War Sucks" and "Pink Stainless Tail".[40]
Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group, who produced the '60s garage rock compilation Nuggets, had referenced the album's liner notes, stating: "I’m a person who resists definitions. I believe that, as Mayo Thompson of the Red Krayola once said on one of those International Artists records, 'Definitions define limit'. I’ve always looked for those moments in time where definitions are blurry and that to me is what’s really nice about Nuggets is that the bands hadn’t figured it out yet, so you had a lot of wild cards."[41]
Pink Stainless Tail were a rock band which formed in Melbourne, Australia, who named themselves after the song.
Red Krayola's studio album Fingerpainting (1999), contained the same
| Region | Date | Title | Label | Format | Catalog | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 1967 | The Parable of Arable Land | Stereo LP | IA-LP 2 STEREO | ||
| USA | 1967 | The Parable of Arable Land | Mono LP | IA-LP 2 MONO | ||
| UK | 1978 | The Parable of Arable Land | Stereo LP | RAD 12 | ||
| USA | 1979 | The Parable of Arable Land | Stereo LP | IA-LP 2 STEREO | ||
| UK | 1988 | The Parable of Arable Land | Decal | CD | LIK 20 | |
| USA | 1993 | The Parable of Arable Land | CD | COL-CD-0551 | ||
| Italy | 1999 | The Parable of Arable Land | Get Back | LP | GET533 | |
| Italy | 2002 | The Parable of Arable Land | CD | SPOT 507 | ||
| USA | 2009 | The Parable of Arable Land | Stereo/Mono LP | IA-LP-2 Mono | ||
| UK | 2011 | The Parable of Arable Land | CD | SNAX621 | ||
| UK | 2011 | The Parable of Arable Land | MP3 (Stereo/Mono) | SNAX621 | ||
| UK | 2014 | The Parable of Arable Land | Stereo/Mono LP | CHARLY L 142 |