Fire Records (UK)

Jackie O Motherfucker – Flags of the Sacred Harp [IMPORT 2xLP] – New LP

$ 45.00

20th anniversary 2xLP reissue of Flags Of The Sacred Harp, a transcendent masterpiece of free-folk, gospel-drone, and psychedelic Americana. A re-imagining of traditional hymns and anthems from the original American songbook that was first published in 1844. This long-awaited repress revives a landmark recording of collective improvisation and spiritual exploration and includes bonus downloads of archival tracks and unreleased live recordings.

Imagine The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sweet Nuthin’ fed through a spirit glass; a super slow incantation haunted by the ghosts of the band’s 40 transient members. Mystical folkisms cluster as the songs come in and out of focus and their improvisational slew matures. Recorded at Supreme Reality studios in Portland over the summer of 2005; Tom Greenwood had just returned to the City following a few years of touring and began recording over several marathon sessions. Formed in 1994, Jackie O-Motherfucker is an ever-morphing collective nudging the American experimental scene, drawing from a variety of subgenres including folk from around the world, drone, free jazz, psychedelia, and noise rock

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when I was early in my Oregon years (almost 30 years ago!) and went to shows most every night, went to two venues this one summer night, the first one a free show (or maybe a few bucks donation) in some warehouse with about the same number of bands as there were people there to see them, the first act some kid whacking away at his guitar and biting so deep into his microphone that I thought surely he would electrocute himself...actually maybe he did and talking about how he wondered if they can hear him in Southeast Portland, which was a jab at SE I figured, maybe because rent was so expensive in SE PDX at that time, about $500 a month, for an apartment, or for rent for Green Noise...which is funny and sad now because that venue probably rents for about $10,000 a month now and while the punks and artists would blame the people that followed in their wake, the artists and punks were the first white people who moved in to take advantage of the cheap rent in the Black neighborhood (and that Black neighborhood is surround with an area of about 50 million acres without a single Black neighborhood)...but if was a good show and the line up ended with a memorable clearly improvised performance by Jackie-O Motherfucker which was just one song stretched out for about 40 minutes. This album must have been released shortly after that show, but this is nothing like that show. (Well, that's not exactly true: the show actually started sounding like part of this album but then exploded in loud chaos and continued to build that chaos into something louder and more chaotic.) The fact that they could do that show and then record an album like this shows that this is a one-of-a-kind and amazing band. (My memory recalls the band led by a Black man, who seemed to guide the proceedings somewhat how Zappa would, except completely different as well...and while this was clearly the outpouring of a band, I kind of thought the Black guitarist as Jackie O, and while I think the memory is correct, and it makes sense listening to this now, but when I look at the photos of the band, I start to wonder...maybe the band I witnessed was actually the Black guitarist joining Jackie O for the show--that might be right because he might have also played with the band that offered a set before Jackie O. Okay, I'm done. -- winch

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