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The Viola Crayola - Music Breathing Of Statues (1974)

Track listing:
  1. Mr Leroy, Pepe Is Lost 4:28
  2. The Bus To New York 4:59
  3. I Know You Don't Have A Car 5:09
  4. Two Plus One 2:45
  5. The Nurds At My School 3:06
  6. You're Drivinī Me Crazy With Relief 2:54
  7. The Last One On Earth 3:32
  8. What Is The Meaning Of Love 2:05

Notes


A real stunner of an album from Texan band Viola Crayola. Fronted by the Viola brothers, Tony and Ron, the group, whose music is often described as hard guitar prog-psych, looked destined for success until the untimely death of Tony in a auto-train crash in San Antonio, Texas in 1974. Music: Breathing Of Statues is the brother's only known recording, and what a record it is, with its wild prog instrumental power-trio vibe and a strong jazzy fusion sound running throughout.

The album, which was recorded in New York in 1974 and released the same year, appeared on the Fautna label, a label so obscure that it doesn't seem to have existed at all. This lack of information suggests that the album was actually a private pressing, a supposition supported by the lack of a catalogue number on either sleeve or record and a thank you to Billy (The Duke) Biggs for putting up the dough! Although the surviving Viola brother Ron attempted to keep his brother's musical memory alive through a series of live performances in the San Antonio area, even adding some local musicians to augment the numbers, his heart clearly wasn't in it, and although the band was extremely popular in the area (one member of the audience reported the group as being "....very heavy.

Jazz-rock stuff full of improvisation and industrial sound effects and nice little performance-art touches such as spraying flames around the stage with a cigarette lighter and a can of WD40. Half of the crowd were wildly enthusiastic; the other bewildered and terrified") the group disbanded soon after. Another minor musical gem which is rapidly becoming another highly-sought after collector's item.