Friday, March 9, 2007

Rabrinda "all I see is you" lp Krsna Rock Part 7



Rabrindra is the name and "all i see is you" is the LP on Takoma/Devi(D-1036. 1973. 11 tracks "respectfully placed at the lotus feet of my beloved Guru, Swami Praphavananda". Special thanks to "all of my devotee friends for rocking out on "all i see is you". Based on the label(Takoma was John Fahey's label and he is the executive producer) and the instrumentation which includes guitar/bass/drums plus moog and "buchla" synthesizer, I was excited to throw this on. The back cover "mother protects" artwork is amazing and I will post photos once my camera comes back from vacation with my wife.
A mix of Christian and Krsna lyrics seem to help get this describe as "acid-folk" but that doesn't seem to fit a record that is clearly orchestrated and recorded such as this. "The Only One" is not a Cro-Mags cover, but an ode to God just the same, but with a countryish groove. First 2 tracks bring to mind John Denver more than LSD. Creeps into Grateful Dead territory on the next track and he starts to sound like Gram Parsons on "Lord how I love you" until the female backing vocals come in and it starts to sound like a Coke commercial. Although they wrap it up with a nice guitar and drum break. "lord,lord,lord" has a nice haunting vibe mainly strings and female vocals and then a synthesizer busts in making it even creepier and weirder, I could imagine some drugs being involved in the writing and recording of this one. Most tracks are short under 4 minutes and only 2 go over 5 minutes which doesn't give much room to stretch out, but prevents mistakes from droning on. "Tippy Taping" sounds like Ringo Starr trying to write and ode to Krsna. Very odd horn driven track. "Suddenly I am feeling so eternal" is the opening lyric on side 2's "Davids Dream" and who hasn't felt like that? Country Rock shuffle. "Jesus Saves" is up next and no it's not a Slayer cover. "Krishna Boy(for Lili) is the second nod to the Krishnas and his blue skinned incarnation as Govinda. "Lord's Sweet Name" is up next with the synth bubbling away right from the beginning. As the records longest track you know you are in for a trip. Once the percussion and backing vocals kick in it has kind of a Traffic vibe to it as it breaks into a raga influenced section with some good guitar work. Rabindra's devotee friends add some choral more than kirtany back up vocals to "all i see is you" which starts out slow but picks up and has some hoots and hollers in the end (kind of like McCartney in "get back")
On the whole, this record is a pretty catchy country rock record with some interesting lyrical material. This record falls into the Golden Avatar style of Krsna record, influenced by the Krsna's but not directly recorded or made for Krsna's.
A google search on Rabindra Danks is pretty interesting. Check this website. But not as interesting as a check on Indira Danks who had the honor of being on Sanford and Son !

3 comments:

Unknown said...

HI THERE
JUST A QUICK MESSAGE TO THANK YOU 4 THE NOT SO
SCATHING REVIEW ON MY ALBUM "ALL I SEE IS YOU"
I HAD TONS OF FUN MAKING IT AND IT WAS IN MY "YOGA PERIOD" JUST TO CORRECT; NO DRUGS WERE USED DURING THE SESSIONS, IT WAS AN INNOCENT HOMAGE TO THE ENLIGHTENED ONES,
I LIVE IN TOKYO AND AM STILL DONG MUSIC AND ART
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORD MATE!
LOVE
RABINDRA

Unknown said...

Anybody have a web address for Rabindra? We were old friends in LA would love to get back in touch.

Thanks,

Martyn

Unknown said...

Anyone have a web or other address for Rabindra? We were old friends in LA, would love to contact him.

Thanks much,

Martyn