Melodic Energy Commission - Migration of the Snails. 1980 Canada-British Columbia

Melodic Energy Commission are one of those bands that are near impossible to write about. Their sound is straight out of the 1971 Krautrock cookbook - it's wildly psychedelic sounding. But they don't have the structure or flow of any of the UK or German bands of the era. And they are completely out of time for 1980. All of which scores huge points in my book. They are truly on their own planet here. Even though they feature Del Dettmar on keyboards, there's not a trace of Hawkwind's type of space rock to be found anywhere. Migration of the Snails needs to be heard a few times in a row, just to get an idea of what they're up to. It's a large ensemble and they play dozens of instruments, all very talented at that. One of a kind group, that's for sure. When they reformed in 2005 with Time is a Slippery Concept, they didn't miss a beat, and sound pretty much like they do here. Genius level, really.

Ownership: LP: 1980 Energy Discs; CD: 1997 Vapor. The single sleeve LP was purchased (or traded for) sometime in the late 90s from an unknown catalog dealer. Sealed copies could still be had back then, and I nabbed one. Comes with a cool insert with trippy cave paintings and a transparent lyric insert. Nothing these guys do is normal. I purchased the CD upon release, entitled Moon Phase Compendium, and it features their debut Stranger in Mystery in full along with almost all of Migration of Snails. In order to fit on one CD, they left off the track 'Perriwinkle St.' - which is more of a soundscape, and probably the best choice to leave behind if forced. The CD comes in what Discogs calls a "soft plastic jewel case", with a few notes and credits behind the plastic. Because of the omitted track, I first listened to the album on LP. Then listened to the CD two more times (only the Migration portion, which opens the disc verse the expected other way around). Really the CD sounds great here, as the original pressing wasn't the best. For an album this great, I'll continue to keep both of course.