Ken Nordine Transparent Mask CD

 Moments of Breathtaking Brilliance
Although Ken Nordine's mellow voice and Word Jazz language have haunted my subsconscious for almost four decades, since the first time I heard a cut from his "Twink" LP on the underground radio station I listened to in the early 70's, this recording is the first I have actually owned. And, after listening to "Transparent Mask" daily for the past 10 days, I am well pleased. That is not to say that every track on this CD is equally masterful. There are definitely several flat spots, where we hear "same-o same-o" stuff -- Nordine's mental musings often mimic Dr. Seuss, with their ennui-inducing over-dependence on obvious rhymes that even a child could hear coming a mile away. But then that's why they make the "next track" button on CD players, right?' I give this CD a Five Stars rating despite these momentary lapses into self-indulgent formulaic repetition, because Nordine's genius blazes forth so brightly on other tracks I forget all about the weaker performances. After a few "up tracks" sprinkled amongst those less interesting attempts, the 20-track recording really kicks into overdrive on track 13 - "Truth Mute", a trademark Nordine hypnologue, resembling nothing (except perhaps certain classic Firesign Theatre scenes); a frighteningly intimate peek at Nordine's subsuperconscious questioning his ego's epistemological assumptions via a psychic radio. Next, "A Thousand Bing Bangs", featuring I think the best poetry and the best musical performance of the album by Nordine's consistently excellent backing musicians. A perfect blending of words, voice and instruments througout, building to a powerful crescendo at the end that left me stranded on high in Holy Shizland. Tracks 15 - 18 relax a bit, each displaying Nordine's unique ability to season hard concepts of science, math and psychoanalysis with a soft spicing of humor and his hypnotic inner dialogue style, like he's talking to you but you are really him, in his head. Quirky quarky stuff and very amusing to me and the other people like me, who really do live in his head. Then, Track 19 - "A Thousand Dreams", near the end of the album but no light dessert, this is the main course and a tour de force -- an object lesson in surrealism that follows in the wake of the pathfinding "Truth Mute" and "A Thousand Bing Bangs" tracks and launches out into the voidbeyond. A vast mutating dreamscape shimmering with "you-are-there" authenticity and sound effects to boot. My dear reader, if this is not Poetry, not Jazz, not Art, nothing is...
Submitted by enigmann (Memphis, TN, USA) 
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