It was about a year ago that I reported on Shinn's other 1969 album Temples With Prophets. I purchased that one first as it had the reputation of a quality early progressive rock effort. But no one spoke of Departures. To quote that earlier review "...it becomes apparent that Shinn probably wasn't trying for a progressive rock album at all - it just worked out that way... It could be argued that he was simply following in the footsteps of other creative organists of his era, and ended up with an album that is just as much The Nice as it is something perhaps an early Krautrock band would come up with." And guess what? Departures fits this model perfectly. In fact some of the organ work recalls Mike Ratledge, minus the fuzz pedals. Here we have four long tracks. Three of the members are dedicated to drums and percussion, so it's heavily slanted that way, but remarkably there are very few solos. It's definitely Shinn's show. The three unreleased bonus tracks are excellent, one featuring female vocals, that almost puts it into bossa nova territory. Excellent album and just as good as Temples with Prophets.
Ownership: CD: 2020 Sunbeam. Recent online acquisition. Digipak. Excellent reissue with extensive liner notes, photos, memorabilia (it's the same booklet as Temples with Prophets, so not much gain here if you already have that), and three bonus tracks.
