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| Sun Zoom Spark Electricity SBR 039 songs- Electricity, What About You, Inna Di Poemhall, Falling From Satellites, Seventh Space Dream This Week, Loaded, Here I Go, Too Much, Namnea Habebeh Nam, Get To You, Secret Spark, Last Blues Tucson power trio Sun Zoom Spark's shining 4 track masterpiece, Electricity is a complete statement. Over sixty-five minutes of amped-up power-blues, space rock and slightly creepy guitar pop, Sun Zoom Spark comes up with a forward thinking effort that does not hide its roots. Compared with the like of 'old school' acid rockers The Pink Fairies and The Flaming Lips, Sun Zoom Spark delivers the rock and roll goods with psychedelic charm. Digitally remastered by John Axtell at Cranky Jesus Studio in Tucson, Electricity journeys through thirteen songs, three spacey instrumentals, bizarrosound samples and a finale/hidden track that you have to hear to believe. |
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| Sun Zoom Spark live 1999 |
| Sun Zoom Spark "Electricity" Dusting off a 1999 release which originally came out in an edition of 30(!), seems like a real good idea when the music is as strong, varied and vital as this coiled up little reptile is. Garagey psychedelic Tucson rockers with real muscle and a wide range of possibilities, There are thunderous stoner rock crunching sections, and tightly constructed pop numbers that cop riffs from Stray Cats, and Bob Dylan to rework them into completely different shapes and purposes. I prefer their more esoteric trippers to the headbanging bluesy riffage, but to their credit they do both with equal aplomb. "Seventh Space Dream this Week" is a haunting Middle Eastern flavored cosmic hoedown. The ringing melodic folk rock of "Loaded" feels somewhere between Flaming Groovies and The Choir. They even attempt Syd Barrett's "Here I Go", and end up sounding more sloppy drunk than acid damaged. "Namnea Habebeh Nam" is nearer to Acid Mothers Temple, rolling big aromatic gumballs of Hashish between the palms of their hands with tabla like drums, and tribal mojo filter groovin’ up with it. George Parsons Dream Magazine #4 |
| Sun Zoom Spark electricity (Slow Burn) Between the name of this trio and the album title, I thought this would be a Captain Beefheart tribute, or at least strongly influenced by him. Instead, the musical language is an update of early Pink Floyd, complete with a cover of Syd Barrett¹s "Here I Go," plus a touch of West Coast Summer of Love (especially at the end on "Get to You," which works up a furious groove, and the driving "Secret Spark"). The last track, "Last Blues," which may be that song plus a long unlisted bonus track, has many sections, including a very funky groove and a brief Beefheart quote of the song that gave the group its name. There¹s lotsa droning fuzz guitar, some vintage Moog, slow and spacey tempos, an abundance of percussion (especially toms) with a degree of polyrhythmic liveliness, and not many vocals. A few goofy samples I could have done without break the mood, but anybody who likes dark psychedelia will dig this disc. Jack Rabid The Big Takeover |
| SUN ZOOM SPARK: Electricity CD
Bearing in mind that they've taken the names of band and album from Beefheart (presumably), it may surprise you to find out that this is a power trio from Tucson, Arizona who play unashamedly psychedelic , stoner-esque rock that I actually a lot more listenable and enjoyable than many by virtue of the fact that, while it's strong and powerful, it's not extreme, allowing the psychedelic elements to be as prevalent as the stoner elements. With guitar, bass, drums and vocals as their tools, this band lays down a really far-out vibe, coming more from a diet of Pink Fairies, Jefferson Airplane, Byrds & Pink Floyd than anything to do with Sabbath or their ilk. When the band rock out, then you turn the volume up to 11 and let it rip, with some red hot guitar riffing, fuzzed and surging to effective degree. There's a decided late sixties American feel in part while a more early seventies UK "Glastonbury Festival" vibe takes most of the rest. With a dozen songs over a sixty seven minute running time, it's heady stuff all the way, even including a cover of Syd Barrett's 'Here I Go', done with a swaggering psychedelic feel somewhere between The Who's 'Happy Jack' and early Floyd with a stoned blues quality running through its veins. Elsewhere, it's originals all the way from similarly paced stoner staggers to biting attack worthy of early electric Hot Tuna. Vocally, the leads and harmonies are exactly what you'd expect to find and fit the songs to a tee. Overall, the songs conform to a typically hook-less but entirely memorable late sixties USA psych-pop only with some sterling guitar work along the way. The rhythm section sound suitably garagey but this, once more, is entirely fitting. So, if you've got a penchant for late sixties psych mixed with a touch of UK seventies stoner psych and a vocalist not a million miles away from Tom Verlaine, then this will suit you down to the ground. -Andy Garibaldi (Dead Earnest) |