Terrific bursts, Climbing Forgettable Ruins, Indifferent Longings, Ennui... Sun City Girls' Torch of The Mystics

What Goes Around....

I've been listening to this extraordinary recording for the past few days. I was pretty lucky to pick this up at a fairly reasonable price, as this has been out of print for close to twenty years and I see what people are asking for this Cd. I would have to say that this Phoenix band was fairly unique. They are certainly well known for their incorporation of musical styles from around the globe in their music, but for me its difficult to see where one thing starts and another ends here. One thing is very clear is that these guys are by no means imitative: the music on Torch of the Mystics is informed by Asian music, east Asia, India, Tibet and the Middle East and Spain, but for the most part they are using a basic guitar and drums set-up here, and there are a lot of rock, psychedelic surf guitar and traditional folk elements going on, not to mention some Spaghetti Western. Maybe its something about the desert, but they remind me a bit of the Meat Puppets at times.



The Band:
Richard Bishop: Guitar & Vocals
Alan Bishop: Bass & Vocals
Charles Gocher: Drums & Vocals

Or its just hard to say sometimes. What struck me at times on this recording was how similar elements seemed to exist in the different musical styles here. One type of music ultimately became an echo in another part of the world. I sometimes think that people got around and mingled back in the old days a lot more than a lot of people care to admit. Sometimes the guitar work is clearly inspired by Middle East or Indian Ragas, I hear Richard Thompson's guitar work. Amazingly, the work here seems so improvisational and spontaneously alive that you wonder whether the album was recorded in a few hours live. But I have to believe that these guys make what they do appear easy, when clearly there was a lot of thought and musical research going into the creation of this. Buddhist chants and Tuvan throat singing coexist with bluegrass. It makes no sense, but all the disparate elements for some reason work together as a whole.

I would admit that this album is not for everybody. Not everyone has the patience or a wide ranging enough interest in music to enjoy this album. But I believe that is one of the more amazing musical works. There probably aren't a lot of recordings like this. The musicianship on this is superb, and although there is singing and chanting throughout, I keep telling myself that this is an instrumental album.



When drummer Charles Gocher died in 2007, the remaining band members decided not to continue the group. Richard Bishop has subsequently made a number of solo recordings as Sir Richard Bishop (While My Guitar Violently Bleeds is a favorite), and his brother Alan runs the Sublime Frequencies music label, which releases interesting artists' music from around the globe, including many countries whose music is pretty unknown to Americans. Sun City Girls have made numerous albums, some of which are available on the Abduction Label, but many were produced in small numbers and are rare and out of print. Their last studio album, Funeral Mariachi was released last year, to critical acclaim. Still haven't picked that one up. But Torch of the Mystics comes highly recommended if you can find it for a reasonable amount. Definitely a unique record that ought to be reissued sooner than later.