An amalgamation of sundries and miscellany.

Haven’t played it, heard it was good.

Final rating: 8.5/10.

This CD has a special place in my heart: It was the first one I ever purchased. It was the summer of 1999. I’ll have to admit, I bought it largely because the cover was so cool. But I also bought it because I was interested in what “acid jazz” was. So I bought it and took it home.

Dr. Onionskin is a band that never got any kind of love, near as I can tell. I got their first two CDs, and then I never heard about another release from them. However, I did later find that they had released like three other CDs, but I haven’t gotten those, yet.

Anyway, about this CD: It’s awesome. I still listen to the music, ten (ten!) years after I bought it. And more than that, it’s still one of my favorite ones.

It’s almost a fire-and-forget CD, meaning you can almost plug it in and not have to worry about skipping “that one stupid song”. There’s just one track that I don’t really like (Last of the Boheatnicks). The rest of them are pretty much all jazzy-sounding stuff, with real instruments taking the forefront.

Let’s go through the track listing:

Paris In The Spring (4:33)
A sprightly, peppy piece featuring some sax and ivories. It elicits an energetic, sunny day. It’s one of my favorites to play in the car during the summer with the windows down.

Shady Day (4:51)
Like the track before it, the song and title go well, together. It’s a more mellow piece, some xylophone plinking, some smooth guitar and an inobtrusive brass.

4 A.M. (4:27)
Not a bad part of the city, but not a tony part, either. Middle of summer, early hours of the morning. Down-on-your-luck motel lobby, high ceiling, with the moon and neon hotel sigh flooding the room with pale blue light. Ceiling fan going at lazy-speed provides some ambient humming, while a white plastic personal fan clipped onto the edge of the concierge desk flaps some stacked papers as it turns every forty seconds. Guy behind the desk is kicked back in the chair, catching a catnap while two jokers in the corner play cards and chat.

That’s what this track brings to my mind. It’s probably my favorite on the CD because of the imagery.

Impressions 4 U (4:33)
If “4 A.M.” is the hotel lobby, then this is the main hallway.

Why Has It Got To Be… (4:23)
Some congas and bongos start out a capella to be joined by a groovy bassline and the occasional sax florish. This track has a bit more in the way of spoken word, with some samples thrown in. At about 2:15ish, a guy says “Why has it got to be?” for a couple of measures. I find it a bit annoying, but it doesn’t last long, and I like the rest of the song too much to skip it.

On And Over (3:49)
Some muted wire percussion and bass drum and some keyboard notes start this one off before the bass groove joins in. Some brass sustained notes come in and out and opens the track up a bit. A nice, mellow piece.

Jazz In A Higher Dimension (4:21)
A simple drum beat, assorted percussion and bass groove support the smooth sax in the lead, with some electric guitar in for accent.

Get Into It (3:44)
A bit o’ the church organ and an upbeat jazzy bassline kicks this show up a notch with some jazz flute and trumpet souping it up. I love this track.

Hard & Funky (4:03)
And now for something completely different: Monkeys. You got some monkey chirping with a bassline for a sec, a slight pause, and then the laid-back funk drops in with a monkey “awoooo”. The organist gets a bit of Sly and the Stones-action going on and is a lead instrument. This is a fun, funky ride.

We Got The Groove (4:09)
From jazz to disco groovin. You got the disco bass and trumpet, rolling high hat and percussion, some mellow vocal samples and some basic scratching.

Down And Then Down Again (3:42)
The xylophone makes a return for this track, and it gets a bit more air time. Simple jazz drum backbeat. Some minor key stuff (I think–not being a musician, myself) gives it a little edge. Not my favorite track, but nothing bad.

Last Of The Boheatnicks (2:21)
This is the track I skip. It’s got some beatnik-style prosing (well, not technically, but it’s the comparison that was brought to my mind) for a good portion of the song. The actual content doesn’t do much of anything for me, and I just find the whole experience annoying. Meh.

Odyssey 5 (3:52)
This is a spacey number, with some “lunar”-flute, synth hits and echoey voices. Not a bad track at all, but definitely a bit of a departure from what has been heard.

Life In The Mind Of Jazz (4:03)
There’s something about the bird chirping samples and vocal samples in the beginning that, along with the sound of the piece, makes me visualize some inner-city park with a view of the water at twilight. Then it switches up at the end and plays what sounds like a hang drum for a sec, gives it a “up in the clouds” feel, and makes me think of the floating island place in Chrono Trigger (this, in turn, reminds me of Laputa in Gulliver’s Travels, which Chrono Trigger may or may not have drawn inspiration from).

Cafe 52 (3:30)
The track opens with “small-club applause”, and you’re taken to the stage of a small cafe with a stage (hence the “cafe” in the title). Piano takes a front seat here, with some sax accents.

If It Ain’t Got… (4:14)
I use “trippy” to describe this track. It has distorted, echoed vocal samples, spacey sax and some muted trumpet over “wavy” guitar.

Take Me – I’m Yours (4:57)
For the first minute, you just have latin percussion and some vocals. Then it breaks into some lead guitar plinking over a mellow synth wash. A nice, periwinkle-colored track.

So, that’s the CD. I really have enjoyed it over the decade that I’ve owned it, and I hope that you decide to give it a try. In fact, I’m so certain that you’ll find it worth adding to your collection that if you buy it and don’t like it, I’ll buy it off of you (contact me first, but I’m serious about this offer.) I regard it that highly.