Did Hal Blaine invent prog rock? Probably not, but you could definitely make a good case for his doing so with 1967’s Psychedelic Percussion, the second solo CD from the astounding prolific session drummer (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Sinatra, Beach Boys, Leonard Cohen, and about eight trillion others). What you’ve got here are twelve tracks (each corresponding to a month of the year, and with titles like “Freaky,” “Hallucinations,” and “Wiggy”) with Hal chugging through some intense free jazz-style workouts that bring to mind Amon Duul or Tago Mago-era Can at their least approachable, while fellow ‘60s session men Paul Beaver (credited with “electronic devices”), Gary Coleman (not the little black dude), Mike Lang, and Emil Richards spin echo-heavy soundscapes around him. It’s hard to say how hardcore psych or prog fans will feel about this – the material here is blissfully lacking in the cornball hippie-dippie trappings that most mainstream musicians draped over their “counterculture” efforts (no sitars, no tambourines, and no moaning Farfisas, though there is the occasional kazoo and birdcall), but the tunes also lack any sense of momentum or direction -- at times, it just sounds like a bunch of guys making “weird” noises in a studio. However, if weird noises are your kind of sugar cube, you’ll probably dig this disc the most – in its most inspired moments, Psychedelic Percussion sounds like what I imagined was going through the head of that guy in Psych-Out who sliced off his hand while enduring a Very Bad Trip. Psychedelic Percussion is one of several unusual releases from UK sonic archaeologists Harkit Records, who seem hellbent on unearthing the strangest jazz, experimental and soundtrack records of the past 30 years. More power to em, I say. __________________________________________________

-Paul Gaita