Manhole

was the last of the experimental , and 's first official solo album. While and , the final stages of the original , displayed the excessive psychedelic nature of the musicians within the confines of their group format, , allowed for total artistic expression. concluded this phase with 1974's other release, 's . By taking the name from solo project, began the renewed focus on commercial FM which would turn into Top 40 airplay. is the antithesis of that aim, but is itself a striking picture of as the debutante turned hippy being as musically radical as possible. To the kids who think she's the cool singer on the mechanical is an alien concoction, but it works on many levels as great head music. The title track itself is almost 15-and-a-half minutes of orchestrated underground with on lead guitar; on bass, along with ; voices from ; mandolin by ; and a 42-piece orchestra (51, if you include the fragments of the / onboard). It's fun stuff, but looking back one wonders how they maintained a distribution deal for records with , the material being so far from commercial. The title track has a left-hand piano part which "was stolen from an improvisation by ," 's father, and the epic is rife with Spanish/English by the singer, translated in the booklet with 's "phonetic Spanish spelling." Again, this is total underground excess, but it is actually more than listenable than it looks on paper, and for fans, it has the serious/eccentric nature of this woman who emerged as a big, big star due to her quirky personality having the talent to back it up. Attacks on the government and in the elaborate booklet only prove all involved were not out to make friends, but songs like are compelling and intriguing, more so than some of what would constitute 1981's , which contained more elements of guitarist than the star. On , the music is wonderfully dense, macabre, exhilarating, and totally out there. This is a great portion of music from the lead singer of one of America's great music groups. Maybe deserved to be on an project or solo LP of his own, but it sounds great and works. is re-writing a nice change of pace from the heavy instrumental backing of the other tracks. is in great voice, and reflecting on the album years after it was recorded, the conclusion is that has much to offer fans. Compare this to -- recorded live at the Hollywood in the 1990s to see the difference between capturing the time and trying to recapture the magic. Despite the eye toward success and the more serious nature of that later project, it just doesn't have the charm of this artifact from the glory days. It's also a far cry from the 1980s, when returned with three more solo outings: , projects which differ vastly from . The of and the synths and post- feel of producer 's collaborations on show a woman dabbling with other formats. Put those three discs in a boxed set with , and you have true culture shock from a major counterculture figure. is orchestrated at its finest with the voice from stretching that concept across two sides. ~ Joe Viglione