Lambent Flame
released on Reckless Records, 1989
Jesus Acedo - guitars
Odin Helgison - vocals, guitars
Michael Glidewell - bass
John Brett - drums
Duane Norman - sax, flute
Merlin - flute
"Lambent Flame was also a great moment
in time for Black Sun and is arguable one of the best records. I have several favorite tracks on this record for different reasons, but I would have to say that Lilith is my favorite. The music, although mainly switching between two chords, is just great. For me it catches the mood of the sun having just gone down in the desert in mid
summer. The heat burns off slightly, and everything seems to relax (I mean even the trees seem to calm down a bit!) The lyric form the Crowley Book of the Law just adds a magical feel. Great overdubs,
instrumentation and choices throughout!"
-Brian Maloney, sax
LILITH (Lambent Flame)
"A dreamy spell of a song. Jesus maintains that Odin stayed late in the studio after they recorded the basic tracks and “did some magic” on them. The “Tomorrow Never Knows” drumbeat, first heard in “Dada is Ga Ga” is frenetic solo break, is here slowed down to a sleepwalking pulse. Languorous guitars pick gently around it, while Odin’s vocals and e-bowed leads float gently upward. John Brett’s change-up backbeat cuts through to focus the vision into euphoric clarity before letting it free to disappear into clouds."
-Otto Terrorist, drummer
LILITH (Lambent Flame)
"Lillith...So many nights long ago I used to listen to that song and it made me cry or would take me to a place I needed to go to do some deep soul searching.
Still does. Brilliant!"
-Jonathan Levitt, BSE videographer
DADA IS GAGA (Lambent Flame)
"Celestial Cornerstone was a good opener but by the time Dada is Gaga starts you know in for something extraordinary. I had an Indian friend at the time, I remember listening to this song over at his dad's house. His dad came over and said that the singer was singing in Hindi! Just another example of magic -when did Odin learn to sing in Hindi?"
-Eric Johnson, bassist
February 24, 1989
Jesus Acedo is the guitar guru of the Black Sun Ensemble, and it’s his varying textures and overlays that make this group tick- the trippy Eastern mysticism, spaced-out Santana-isms, flights of Zappa proportion, jagged jaunts of Ulmer intensity, ringing feedback-heavy crunch or loopy, sizzling sun-baked Meat Puppets riffs. Acedo is aided by some graceful yet fleeting flute/sax which summons the melody line and fuels his fire, as well as a rhythm section that’s gotta stay on its toes to keep pace. They provide down to earth structures for Acedo’s freer form passages and should be grasping for air after all the time changes and mood shifts that he leads them through. Acedo hyperspaces into a dimension only the spirit of Hendrix has seen, but just because he gets otherworldly on us doesn’t mean he’s not working within the context of an overall group sound. Their second album adds vocals (reminiscent of an Eastern Richard Thompson) to the Black Sun Ensemble picture (the gentle “Lillith” and “Beneath the Sapphire Sky”) for the first time, but the instrumentals continue to reign supreme, especially the higher altitudes of “Celestial Cornerstone” and “Blues for Rainer.”
Rolling Stone
June 29, 1989
by David Fricke
Now imagine the later Ummagumma-style Floyd zoning on psilocybin and frying out in the Arizona sun. Lambent Flame the second album by Tucson’s Black Sun Ensemble, is serious ghost-dance psychedelia, starring the agro-raga guitar of leader Jesus Acedo. The cosmic flippancy of titles like “Sunset on the Sphinx” and “Da Da is Gaga” belies the earthy wallop of the band and the urgent concentration of Acedo’s soloing.