Electric Flag

Blues guitarist, Mike Bloomfield, is mostly known for his signature guitar work with Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Al Kooper, but his extremely short-lived solo project, The Electric Flag, is often times overlooked. The first recording to appear by The Electric Flag was an vibrantly experimental, Mothers Of Invention-influenced gem for the soundtrack to the Roger Corman-directed cult film, The Trip. Some of which would go on to become the band’s first proper LP, A Long Time Comin’. Bloomfield is the only songwriting credited on The Trip, but it’s pretty obvious that the other eight players (especially Buddy Miles) had some influence over the resulting sonic rainbow. And while the range of style shifts on this soundtrack might be considered absolutely ridiculous by some of today’s standards and was originally received as a bit inconsistent in it’s day, that’s the aspect that I find so great about “The Trip”. After all, it is the soundtrack to a movie about a director of commercials (Peter Fonda) who, in an attempt to escape his real life divorce drama, takes his first acid trip and “freaks the fuck out” on medieval rituals and death riding on horseback.

Standout track “Flash, Bam Pow” showcases Buddy Miles’ solo drumming along side mind-melting moog experimentation before blasting through a chugging hurricane of fiery blues frenzy and then meeting a violent off-with-their-heads end. “Fine Jung Thing” is practically the poster child for the American mod-psych-blues dance hall jam, clocking in at over seven minutes. But it’s not all rip roaring, guitar vs. keys tug of war, blues noodling. “Psyche Soap” (the only song with any vocals) and “Senior Citizen” are straight up tongue-in-cheek ragtime numbers, while orchestral “Peter’s Trip” resembles the bastard son of Frank Zappa and Roger McGuinn.

While Bloomfield’s guitar work is awesomely “Bloomfield” on lackadaisical tracks “Green And Gold”, “Practice Music” and throughout, the shining star of The Trip is likely keyboardist, Barry Goldberg. Whether it’s the doom and gloom of “M-23” the eery dissonance of “Fewghh”, or the sunshine soul of “Home Room”, his Hammond organ leaves you warm and fuzzy in a quintessentially 1967 American dreamland. And let’s not forget the tight horn section of The Electric Flag. They were, after all, self-proclaimed as “An American Music Band” and their R&B roots shine throughout “The Trip” despite any and all musical meanderings.

The Trip is a treasure that marries extremely proficient musicianship with psychedelic experimentation in a way few others pulled off at the time. And while it may lack the balls or the insane genius of The Mothers Of Invention’s We’re Only In It For The Money, The Trip demonstrates the universal consciousness of similar ideas and sarcasm going on at the time. Dig it.