[CP 117 CD] Michael Lobel; Trip-Tych+

2021 reédition including, as bonus material after the "Trip-Tych" set, a single-track (#22) montage of the (brief; I was far more invested in the sum of material during the design/layout stage, but after the coffee wore off I felt it was the right & natural choice to spare you the majority of the Little Lord Fauntleroy routine & cut right to the heart of the matter; you can thank me later) bits and bots of Lobel's "Mise en Scène and Electronic Effects" across Paul Sperry's (ditto) Serenus-label vocal recital set...

The lone release by Michael Lobel (curiously, I found out only recently that he is related to Arnold "Frog & Toad" Lobel .. and worked alongside Michael "Tropes on the Salve Regina" Sahl & Cleve "Solo Percussion" Pozar on both the "Bloodsucking Freaks" [!?] soundtrack) originally brought to light in 1977 by Serenus (the same folks that unleashed the early Creel Pone “Hit,” “The Inside of the Outside ... or the Outside of the Inside”) this is a fine example of a record that straddles the divide between Library-music style conventions - many of the pieces are short, melodic numbers of the sort that would dot the silent spaces in a public-TV science program - and wild, free-form synthesizer filigree.

Thematically linked into three “Themes”, the A-side’s “The Bible” suite takes you through a series of old testament scenarios - partly brimstone, partly hell-fire - with each piece based on a particular verse. The B-side offers a suite based on Gulliver’s Travels - lighter, more sprightly fare - then a quintet of pieces sub-titled “Modern Times” that wades out into darker waters, offering several glimpses of Raicevic-ian abandon.

An excellent title for a Creel Pone, one of which I hadn’t seen / heard until now, rescued from a charity shop back room & entered (back) into our collective consciousness.