Parallelograms [Expanded]

Rating

Album: Parallelograms [Expanded]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
2)	Paper Mountain Man	More Info...
3)	Dolphin	More Info...
4)	Call of the River	More Info...
5)	Sandy Toes	More Info...
6)	Parallelograms	More Info...
7)	Hey, Who Really Cares?	More Info...
8)	Moons and Cattails	More Info...
9)	Morning Colors	More Info...
10)	Porcelain Baked-over Cast-iron Wedding	More Info...
11)	Delicious	More Info...
12)	If You Were My Man	More Info...
13)	If You Were My Man	More Info...
14)	Hey, Who Really Cares? (With Intro)	More Info...
15)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
16)	Spoken Intro to Leonard Rosenman	More Info...
17)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
18)	BBC Interview	More Info...
19)	I Would Rather Love	More Info...

Album: Parallelograms [Expanded]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
2)	Paper Mountain Man	More Info...
3)	Dolphin	More Info...
4)	Call of the River	More Info...
5)	Sandy Toes	More Info...
6)	Parallelograms	More Info...
7)	Hey, Who Really Cares?	More Info...
8)	Moons and Cattails	More Info...
9)	Morning Colors	More Info...
10)	Porcelain Baked-over Cast-iron Wedding	More Info...
11)	Delicious	More Info...
12)	If You Were My Man	More Info...
13)	If You Were My Man	More Info...
14)	Hey, Who Really Cares? (With Intro)	More Info...
15)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
16)	Spoken Intro to Leonard Rosenman	More Info...
17)	Chimacum Rain	More Info...
18)	BBC Interview	More Info...
19)	I Would Rather Love	More Info...

Performer Notes

Personnel: Linda Perhacs (vocals, guitar, programming); Steve Cohn (6- & 12-string electric guitars); Reinie Press (guitar, bass); John Neufeld (flute, saxophone); Tommy Brown (harmonica); Leonard Rosenman (programming); Brian Ingoldsby (sound effects).
Includes liner notes by Michael Piper.
Personnel: Linda Perhacs (vocals, guitar, guitars, electronics); Steve Cohn (guitar, electric guitar, 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar); Reinie Press (guitar, electric bass); Fleetfoot (guitar); John Neufeld (flute, saxophone); Milt Holland, Shelly Manne (percussion); Leonard Rosenman (electronics); Brian Ingoldsby (sound effects, hosepipe).
Liner Note Author: Linda Perhacs.
Photographer: Bob Flick.
Arrangers: Leonard Rosenman; Linda Perhacs; Steve Cohn.
Linda Perhacs' cult favorite Parallelograms instantly evokes the spare and isolated feel of the songs and the production on Joni Mitchell's first albums, particularly her debut (largely solo acoustic) -- not to mention the melodies, guitar playing, and singing. It's not a photocopy, however; it's hard to imagine Mitchell singing "I'm spacing out, I'm seeing silences between leaves," as Perhacs does on "Chimacum Rain," unless Mitchell got spiked with acid right before getting on-stage. In addition, Perhacs is adept at dropping unusual effects and arrangements into the mix, that on occasion have a mildly disquieting and psychedelic vibe. Back to "Chimacum Rain," for example: double-tracked voices get into a slightly hypnotic, disorienting swirl, and suddenly move into a half-chanted section with doomy background notes from hard-to-identify instruments. "Parallelograms" is a round-like vocal (again with multi-track voices), consisting of exactly eight words, that without warning goes into creepy washes of electronically distorted voices, flutes, and rattles. Not all of the record is unusual, though; much of it's just attractively wistful, moody singer/songwriter folk, sometimes with an engaging folk-jazz backup, sometimes just with a guitar, sometimes enlivened by creative smudges of organ and electric guitar. ~ Richie Unterberger

Professional Reviews

Uncut (11/03, p.130) - 5 stars out of 5 - "The latest folk-psych gem to be salvaged from obscurity, Linda Perhacs' only album, from 1970, occupies a beguiling middle-ground between Joni Mitchell and Tim Buckley..."

Dirty Linen (pp.60-61) - "[T]he album, now considered legendary among folk recordings, is the American equivalent of Vashti Bunyan's debut album, released the same year in the United Kingdom..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.74) - "It is deeply spooky....Voices sneak in and give you a shiver like a cold breeze gusting into an incense-filled room."

Mojo (Publisher) (3/01/04, p.53) - Included in Mojo's The 67 Lost Albums You Must Own! - "A psych-folk masterpiece."