Now Is the Happiest Time of Your Life in Bloomington, MN

The follow-up to
Good Morning
is another tranquil, organic outing by
Allen
that re-introduces his imaginary green hero, Zero, from the
Gong
trilogy.
is his usual playful self, although by this time the flying teapot/pothead pixie fixation was getting a little stale. No matter, since the music wafts along at a casual pace, with unusual sounds such as tablas by
Sam Gopal
and harp by
Marianne Oberascher
.
Despite his seeming frivolity,
has always had a vein of counterculture protest running through his music, and this comes to fruition in
"Poet for Sale,"
a song that
directs with venom toward the business end of music.
"Only Make Love If You Want To"
is a hypnotic piece driven by a carousel-sounding synthesizer and
's sly vocals.
"I Am"
is an 11-minute musical rendering of a
Daevid Allen
morning meditation from his home in Deya, Majorca. Like
"Wise Man in Your Heart"
from
, this tune harkens to the spacy side of
, with
's patented glissando guitar creating a serene, meditative state. The record closes with the acoustic
"Deya Goddess,"
dedicated to the moon goddess Diana. It's an appropriate coda to
Now Is the Happiest Time of Your Life
, one of the most pleasant records to spring from the fertile mind of rock's oldest and most overlooked hippie poet. ~ Peter Kurtz