Grand Halls 33

ROOTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS – “Roots Of Consciousness” CD ’94 (Syn-Phonic, US) – I can’t really name a whole lot of notable heavy music that has come out of Georgia, other than Mastodon and a decent portion of the Southern Rock genre. That’s one of the reasons why this one was such a surprise. Another reason it was surprising is that when it first came into my hands some years back, it bowled me over like good ol’ Dick Weber! A couple things you’ll hear right off the bat in this superb disc are early Crack The Sky and Rush, with very heavy guitars playing off-time rhythms and anything-but-standard song structures. This is most apparent in “Time Out Of Mind” and the lengthy epic, “ ” (yes, that’s what it’s called, altho’ it has 4 sub-titles). I just love the end of this masterpiece, where the rhythms and lead work of Brian Neuwirth sound like a demented cross between old Alex Lifeson and Tony Iommi! Still, hell, I don’t even know HOW to explain originality exploding into areas like “Candelabra” and “Lethe Warf,” which features some smoking heavy keys, courtesy of Bill Schuessler. The whole band is like a sizzling live wire, but it’s obvious that the main man was Brian Neuwirth. Besides handling guitar and adding his John Palumbo-esque vocals, he penned all the music and lyrics, quite an impressive collection. From one song to another, the man’s musical creativity is matched by his insight and wit in a panorama that always reminds me of Buddo J. Buddo (Last Crack…remember them?!). This all makes more poignant the fact that just about a year after this record’s release, Neuwirth tragically died. Aside from the devastation to his family & friends, you also have to wonder what more he would have brought to the musical table beyond this one album. A very cool lyric book with great artwork completes this CD, which was my album of the year many years back. (I was lucky enough to do an interview with Brian Neuwirth not long after this disc’s release. It was originally published in my printed zine back then and I may re-print it here in the future). Georgia On My CD Player