“RIGHT NOW!” (YepRoc Records)
By Eleni P. Austin
Back in 1986, Dave Alvin walked away from The Blasters. The band he started with his brother Phil in the late ‘70s, had been a fixture on the thriving L.A. Punk scene, despite the fact that their sound was a gritty combo-platter of Blues, Folk, R&B, Country and Rockabilly. After four critically acclaimed records, Dave was itching to strike out on his own, singing the songs he’d written (he usually ceded the vocal spotlight to his older brother). He was ready to chart his own course and carve out his own destiny. Fast-forward nearly 40 years later, and he seems perfectly content to be part of a band, rather than the focal point. Just ahead of the pandemic, he was able to realize a long-cherished dream of creating improvisational music. Fascinated by the recording methods adopted by Miles Davis and his producer Teo Macero utilized on groundbreaking Jazz-Fusion albums like Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson, he hoped to follow that musical blueprint. Along with longtime compadre bassist Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks Of Doom), the pair recruited a wolfpack of simpatico players like multi-instrumentalist David Immergluck (Camper Van Beethoven, Counting Crows, John Hiatt, Cracker) and drummer Michael Jerome (The Toadies, Charlie Musselwhite, Richard Thompson, John Cale). Thus, The Third Mind was born.
Following the paradigm laid down by Miles: improvising in one key until they locked into a groove, the songs were shaped during the editing process. Their self-titled debut arrived in 2020. The record was embraced by fans and critics alike. Their experimental and improvisational sound leap-frogged genres, unspooling across six transcendent tracks.
Most of the songs were instrumentals. Dave really only sang on one track. On another, the band was joined by singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes (Jesse Sykes And The Hereafter). By the time they were back in the studio recording their second effort, she had been officially jumped into the gang. Pithily entitled The Third Mind 2, the album was another trenchant mix of Blues and Folk covers plus one original. It arrived after the five-piece made their live debut at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.
They quickly returned with a live set, The Third Mind: Live Mind. The aggregate was augmented on tour by guitarist Mark Karan (Delaney Bramlett, The Other Ones, Rat Dog) and multi-instrumentalist and L.A. musical legend Willie Aron (The Balancing Act, Thee Holy Brothers) on keys. Now, less than a year later, they’ve returned with a third opus, the third mind RIGHT NOW!. It was recorded live in an astonishing four days at 64 Sound Recording Studio in Los Angeles this past Spring.
This record displays a yin yang duality that stretches out across all seven tracks, beginning with the first two, “Shake Sugaree” and “Pretty Polly.” The similarities begin and end with the titles’ alliteration. The former, was co-written by Folk-Blues legend, Elizabeth Cotton and her young grandchildren, during her career resurgence in the late ‘60s. It opens tentatively as feathery keys thread through a tapestry of languid acoustic riffs, prickly electric notes, shivery pedal steel, roiling bass and a conga-fied beat. Jesse’s sui generis vocals land somewhere between Grace Slick’s blasé savoir-faire and Laura Nyro’s honeyed elasticity. She wraps her world-weary croon around this restless farewell: “I’ve got a song to sing, it’s not very long, I’m gonna sing it right here, if it takes all night long, oh Lordy me, didn’t we shake sugaree, everything I have has come and gone.” Time signatures shift on the break, locking into a mixolydian mode as quicksilver guitars and swirly keys spiral and soar with hypnotic intent. An effects-laden guitar solo rides roughshod atop painterly piano, just ahead of Jesse’s final verse. The arrangement winnows down a keening pedal steel coda.
The latter is a menacing murder ballad that dates back to the 18th century. Jesse’s voice is laced with foreboding as the perspective pivots from the killer and prey. Strummy acoustic guitar is quickly supplanted by prowling electric guitars, sinister bass lines, plangent piano and a thunky beat. Frenzied instrumentation between each verse foreshadows the inevitable carnage: “He stabbed her to the heart and her heart-blood did flow, he stabbed her in the heart and her heart-blood did flow, deep in the grave, Pretty Polly did go.” Skittery guitars give way to a bruiser solo that uncoils across woozy Hammond B3 before building to a cyclonic crescendo ahead of the inevitable denouement: “Threw a little dirt on her and started for home, he threw a little dirt on her and he started for home, nobody there but the animals to moan/A debt to the devil, Willie must pay, a debt to the devil, Willie must pay, for killing Pretty Polly and running, and running, and running, oh, and running away.”
As with the last couple Third Mind records, they make room for at least one original tune. Co-written by Jesse and Dave, “Before We Say Goodbye,” is a slow-burning Soul ballad. Rippling acoustic arpeggios wash over a signature electric guitar refrain that flickers with carnal intent, bookended by burnished piano, sinewy bass and a thwocking sonar pulse. Jesse’s voice is imbued with longing and regret as lyrics tamp down the smoldering embers of a toxic romance: “I’m every age that I’ve ever been, I kissed you once and it had to end, before we said goodbye, before we said goodbye.” Scorching guitars thrust and parry on the break swiveling between bendy licks and reverb-drenched notes, sanctified Hammond B3 notes add ballast.
Conversely, Mike Bloomfield’s “Reap What You Sow,” which originally gained attention on Otis Rush’s seminal Mourning In The Morning record, rides a gritty groove until it threatens to spontaneously combust. Synchronized guitars growl and grind, matched by tumble-down piano, tensile bass and a tick-tock beat. The tension rachets as Jesse lays down the law: “There’s just one thing, baby child, before you go, there’s only one thing, child, before you go, there’s gonna be judgement in the morning, aw, you know there’s gonna be, there’s gonna be judgement in the morning, child, you’re gonna reap what you sow.” Guitar solos detonate like smart bombs alongside reedy organ runs on the break, paring down and then oscillating wildly before stopping on a dime.
The best tracks are deep cuts from a couple of unsung musical heroes. The album’s first single, “Reno, Nevada” was written by Richard Farina. An Irish-Cuban American, he was a writer and musician, married to Joan Baez’ younger sister Mimi. His authenticity heavily influenced Bob Dylan at the beginning of his career. He and Mimi had recorded two well-received albums on the Vanguard label and he had just published his first novel when he was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966. His songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny and Richard Barone. (His story is presented in more elegant and poignant terms in David Hadju’s excellent book, Positively 4th St: The Lives And Times Of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina And Richard Farina)
A rough-hewn duet between Jesse and Dave, it’s powered by barbed guitars, Honky-tonk piano, sinewy bass lines and a chunky back-beat. Lyrics like “Well, there ain’t no game like the game that you’re playing when you got a little something to lose, and there ain’t no time like the time you been wasting, and you waste just about what you choose, there’s a man at the table and you know he’s been able to turn all the odds that you lay, but you can’t feed your hunger and you ain’t getting younger, your tongue ain’t got nothing to say,” use gambling as a sly metaphor for love. Guitars ebb and flow, alternately stinging and spiky, punctuating each verse. On the break, a jaggy guitar fusillade is unleashed and it simply swaggers with authority.
“Darkness, Darkness” originally found on The Youngbloods’ nonpareil 1969 record, Elephant Mountain. The album was mostly written by de facto leader, Jesse Colin Young. Decades after its release, their sound was hailed as a link between Country-Rock and Psychedelia. Although Robert Plant recorded the song for his 2002 Dreamland album, nothing could eclipse the original. Until now.
Lanky guitars envelop Jesse’s sultry vocals as lyrics long for sweet forgiveness: “Darkness, darkness be my blanket cover me with endless night, take away, take away the pain of knowing, fill the emptiness of right now, emptiness of right now, now, now, emptiness of right now, now.” The band leaps ahead of the third verse as guitars rev and retreat, anchored by bleak keys and tensile bass, as drums pound out a tribal tattoo. The tempo accelerates, locking into a cyclonic groove as blistering guitar riffs ricochet across the stratosphere. And so it goes, guitars synchronize and consciously uncouple, Jazzy one minute, a Bluesy churning urn of burning Funk the next. Finally, it quietly powers down to a few ticklish licks, collapsing in a sweaty, sodden heap. Equally parts sprawling and concise, muscular and agile, it is the record’s magnum opus.
The closing track, “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” offers up a bit of a cosmic exhale. Written by Jazz saxophonist, Pharoah Sanders, his seminal 1969 original stretched out for 32 minutes. The Third Mind hew more closely to the nine-minute version that featured vocalist Leon Thomas. Breezy guitars are matched by fluttery keys, angular bass, slippery percussion and a relax-fit Cha-Cha beat. Jesse exhibits a Zen quietude as lyrics unspool like a mantra: “The Creator has a master plan, peace and happiness for every man…. the Creator makes but one demand, happiness through all the land.” Evanescent guitars embroider the margins of the melody, taking flight on the break, as kaleidoscopic riffs are buoyed by intricate piano underpinnings. The instrumental coda sort of drifts into the ether. It’s a lithe and delicate finish to a brilliant album.
Back in 1986, Dave took a leap of faith by going it alone. Aided and abetted by backing bands like the Guilty Men and the Guilty Women, he created a body of work that pleased fans and critics alike. But with The Third Mind, he seems completely free. Surrounded by trusted comrades, he can take chances and broaden his musical horizons, armed with the knowledge that they’re all in it together. That’s a sanguine sensation, and the music is shot-through with grit, gravitas and gratitude.
The first couple of Third Mind albums were equally majestic. But you can hear the five-piece hitting their stride with the third mind RIGHT NOW! It’s a mind-blowing effort, ambitious and adroit, extemporaneous yet succinct. These songs never overstay their welcome. To paraphrase the late, great Minutemen front-man D. Boon, The Third Mind jams econo.
