The Parable of Arable Land
Recorded April 1 – May 11, 1967
Released June 1967
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 1:30 |
| 2. | "Hurricane Fighter Plane" (When the Ride Is Over You Can Go to Sleep) | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 2:24 |
| 4. | "Transparent Radiation" (Red Signs Out-Side, Which I Contain) | 2:32 |
| 5. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 4:21 |
| 6. | "War Sucks" (You Remember What Happened to Hansel and Gretel) | 3:38 |
| 7. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 3:09 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 1:52 |
| 2. | "Pink Stainless Tail" (Seven Guest Are Quite Now, And Now Not Half So Much) | 3:16 |
| 3. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Parable of Arable Land" (And the End Shall Be Signaled By the Breaking of a Twig) | 3:06 |
| 5. | "Free Form Freak-Out" | 4:09 |
| 6. | "Former Reflections Enduring Doubt" (I Pass in a Rain That Is Always Too Soon) | 4:57 |
| Total length: | 41:32 | |
Background
Personnel
The Red Crayola
Mayo Thompson (guitar, vocals), Steve Cunningham (bass), Frederick Barthelme (drums)
Additional musicians
The Familiar Ugly (free form freak-out), Roky Erickson (harmonica, organ)
Technical
Lelan Rogers (producer), Walt Andrus (engineer)
Cover art
Cover design by Flash Graphics (George Banks).
Reviews
| Date | Publication | Author | Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1967-07-21 | The Berkeley Barb: Vol. 5, Iss. 3 | Ed Denson | JSTOR |
|
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1968-07-01 | The Chicago Seed: Vol. 2, Iss. 11 | JSTOR | |
|
|
1979-05 | Slash | Z | Archive.org |
|
1988 | Howl: No.1, pg. 40 | ||
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|
1992-11 | Stereo Review | Steve Simels | |
|
|
2004-02-09 | Pitchfork | Alex Linhardt | Link |
Berkeley Barb
July 21, 1967[1]
Ed Denson
Their first lp was released by that strange Houston company International Artists, who also record the 13th Floor Elevators, and it is selling far more than it should because it looks like a rock lp and the liner notes, which are deceptive, make it sound sort of like the mothers or something else which is recognizable.
Basically they went into the studio with a lot of people and recorded it. Most of the "other people" are just background noise, and they represent, as does the record, a certain stage in the experimentation, which is more or less successful depending upon your intellectual framework.
I like two cuts very much: "War Sucks" and "The Parable of Arable Land", and no doubt so will you about the third time thru. It took me that long.
Chicago Seed
July 1, 1968[2]
This is probably the freakiest album ever recorded. Released around the end of last June, it made it to Chicago sometime this spring. The Crayola specialize in shifting from chaos to structured runs, while the Ugly (I hope that they'll pardon me for becoming familiar_) play such background instruments as coke bottles, motorcycles, buzzsaws and kazoos. "Hurricane Fighter Plane" has the freakiest lyrics ever, and the combined group makes the ultimate statement on violence in "War Sucks". Forget General Fox's stupid liner notes and pick up on it. Highly recommended for listening to when stoned, especially for the amazing channel separation.
Slash
May 1979[3]
Z
Crazy Texan youth in the summer of Sandoz. Having a psycho wigout party, bringing their own noisemakers and their Owsley truths, having no rules except the ones invented by the whims of a sugar cube. No conventions, no restrictions, and if that sounds like that cliche "anarchy," yes this "rebellation generation" knew the essence of that word a lot better than most of your drugstore nihilists. Through the chaos three crayolas play six 'songs' — leaking and swirling through treatments, shifters, delays, rhythm and structure barely held together by lysergicized hands and voices, finally, inevitably disintegrating into another 'free form freakout.' You can forget those puerile cliche putdowns of 'peace and love' — these people really were making an attempt to destroy any cages of flesh or spirit, they were trying to break down more barriers than most of the current zipper pinned media idols know about. And forget the stupid attempts to recreate the period like 'Hair' — this was a time that could never be prolonged or duplicated. It was too over the edge — only Mayo Thompson has crawled out of the warp intact. A great document, and it sounds like they had one hell of a party that night. Wish I could have been there.