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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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SydArthur Festival 2018
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The Seth Man
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SydArthur Festival 2018 Day 6: Henry David Thoreau birthday / David Ackles: "Montana Song"
Jul 13, 2018, 05:34
"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." - Thoreau

David Ackles' "Montana Song" off AMERICAN GOTHIC (1972) is a song I've played and re-played ever since Julian first mentioned it in KRAUTROCKSAMPLER and it's got to be the slowest of slow growers. Ever.

I only knew David Ackles from one picture and its caption ("Buddy, can you spare a contract?") from a Rock encyclopedia but it was decades before I ever saw one of his records, which had all been long out of print.

The first time I heard "Montana Song," I didn't get it.

I didn't dislike it or write it off, and a few years later wound up listening to it again. I still didn't get it, but did appreciate the arrangements.

Over the years, whenever Julian Cope would mention "Montana Song," I'd re-listen to it. Some parts sounded a little like Scott Walker, then like some of the instrumental outtakes from the Beach Boys' "Smile" or compositions used in musicals or films about small town America with other bits of Aaron Copland.

I listened to it four times today, bringing the total amount of times I've heard it up to ten. I'm glad I stuck with it, because I heard other things in it, had forgotten the narrative in the interim years, and its evocative power did truly move me.

I love it now.
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SydArthur Festival 2018 (MARTASE)
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