Serpent Power – “Ourobouros ” – [Locust Music]

Daryl Licht   10/27/2007   12-inch, A Library

Originally, Serpent Power was a Bay Area group, led by poet David Meltzer, whose music was a nice blend of lysergic folk and pop elements. They released one album on Vanguard in 1967 that is well regarded among many collectors. Soon after making that first recording, the original group disbanded for a variety of reasons and Meltzer put together a new incarnation of Serpent Power. This limited, vinyl only release documents previously unissued recordings made at the studios of legendary Berkeley, CA radio station KPFA in 1969 by this ???Mark II??? version of Serpent Power. It contains two side-long tracks of authentic hippie free psych jamming, highlighted by segments that feature unique sonic treatments such as eastern-influenced banjo freakouts (courtesy of J. P. Pickens) and (Daniel Moore???s) wailing shenai. While I???ll readily admit that there???s nothing particularly groundbreaking nor exceptional about these recordings (though they???re surely every bit as significant and worthy as the next release from NNCK or Sunburned Hand Of The Man!), this is still a nice artifact from those long destroyed acid days. DL