Howard Roberts - Antelope Freeway `71 / Equinox Express Elevator `75 (2011)

A consummate jazz and session guitarist in the 1950s and '60s, Howard Roberts was a bandleader on quite a few of his own sessions as well, including two very odd albums from Impulse! Records, 1971's Antelope Freeway and 1975's Equinox Express Elevator, both of which are included in their entirety here. This was Roberts on a psychedelic highway, merging everything into a Firesign Theatre-like montage of street noise, acoustic improvisations, stoner jokes, intermittent vocals, and electric guitar workouts that simply defies categorization. Antelope Freeway and Equinox Express Elevator are easily two of the strangest albums Impulse! ever released, and pairing them like this on a single disc is both genius and insane -- listening to both of these in one sitting might seriously upset a few apple carts in the mind.

Tracks:

Antelope Freeway (Impulse A(S) 9207, 1971)

1 Antelope Freeway, Part 1 2:25
2 That's America For Ya 3:25
3 Dark Ominous Clouds 3:45
4 De Blooz 9:27
5 Sixteen Track Firemen 2:15
6 The Ballad Of Fazzio Needlepoint 5:20
7 Five Gallons Of Astral Flash Could Keep You Awake For Thirteen Weeks 4:23
8 Santa Clara River Bottom 2:20
9 Roadwork 7:50

Equinox Express Elevator (Impulse ASD 9299 1975)

10 Unfolding In 5:13
11 Timelaps 1:51
12 TTTT 4:43
13 Growing National Concern 3:53
14 2dB, Eyes Of Blue 2:03
15 (The Single) (On This Side) 3:03
16 Real Freak Of Nature Historical Monument 3:21
17 Slam 5:34
18 Harold J. Ostly, The County Tax Assessor 3:53
19 Unfolding In (On Itself) 1:39

Personnel:

Drums – Bob Morin, John Guerin
Electric Bass – Bryan Garofalo, Jerry Scheff, Max Bennett
Electric Guitar – Mike Deasy
Electric Piano – Mike Wofford
Guitar, Electric Guitar – Howard Roberts
Keyboards – Larry Knechtel, Mike Wofford, Pete Robinson
Organ – Dave Grusin
Percussion – Mayuto Correa
Producer – Bill Szymczyk, Ed Michel
Synthesizer – Ed Michel
Synthesizer [Moog Guitar] – Howard Roberts
Violin – Bobby Bruce
Vocals – Diana Lee