Clark Hutchinson - Gestalt (Deram 1971) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip.

×

Clark Hutchinson - Gestalt (Deram 1971) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip.

Close

×

Clark Hutchinson - Gestalt (Deram 1971) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip.

Close

Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson recorded four semi-legendary LPs of drug/scatter/raga-blues between 1969 and 1971. Mick Hutchinson was – and still is – a gifted guitarist who began his career playing Indian style music with the tabla expert Sam Gopal. Although he never recorded with Sam Gopal's Dream – a young guitarist named Lemmy eventually fulfilled that role – Hutchinson and Gopal played together at the legendary 14 hour Technicolour Dream at London's Alexandra Palace in April of 1967. Later, he teamed up with the multi-instrumentalist Andy Clark. They both played a variety of instruments and this abundance of talent was brought to bear on the extraordinary two man album A=MH² which they recorded during two hectic 12 hour sessions in 1969. The band's last offering before splitting in 1971, Gestalt, was an altogether gentler, more reflective, disillusioned affair. Gestalt is eleven tracks shot through with sadness and regret. To some extent it's like listening to an extended meditation on Peter Green's 'Man of the World'. The lyrics are less explicit and less maudlin than on that particular track, but Andy Clark's vocals have the same poignancy, and Mick Hutchinson's guitar deftly and efficiently touches all the right spots. In case you're wondering, a gestalt is a pattern or structure – an organised whole – that is more than the sum of its parts. The idea originates with the German system of Gestalt psychology, which holds that perceptions and reactions are gestalts. A clear example is a melody as distinct from the separate notes that go to make it up. However you apply the term to this album, there is something here that transcends the eleven short tracks that go to make it up. It's elusive, like something half-remembered from a dream. Whatever it is, it's enough to break your heart. Simon Smith,Beefheart.com