alchemy

'Alchemy', their first release, is a wonderful record. With shorter tracks than found on later albums, Third Ear Band here makes excursions into improvised chamber music. In the opener, 'Mosaic', at seven minutes one of the longest cuts, guitar meets recorder and violin in a disharmonic free jazz summit that fades away before building into a trancy mini-crescendo. For those even vaguely interested in the history of innovative music, 'Alchemy' is worth hunting down. Reissued with a pasted gatefold hardboard sleeve.