Bulbous Creation-You Won't Remember Dying (1970) Review

Bulbous Creation is a band from Kansas, formed in 1969 by bassist Jim "Bugs" Wine, and Guitarist, Vocalist, and songwriter Paul Parkinson, both grew up together. The band recorded their set live in a studio, with the little cash they saved up from gigs, as they played all original material, gigs weren't easy. As the band was picking up steam, before they could release this album, the singer Paul Parkinson left the group, stating he preferred to perform his music as a solo artist. Bugs formed the band Creation out of the ashes, and this album sat until a bootlegger found the tapes, and released an unnofficial version in 1995, and the remaining members officially released it, finally, in 2011. Since then, You Won't Remember Dying has built a cult following, and it's easy to see why. Legitimate, raw, dark, doom, moody, warm psychedelia. It's somewhere between Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Jimi Hendrix. 

End Of The Page starts off a little folky, and melancholy sounding. Very moody, very late 60's sounding. This whole recording was done live in the studio, so there's that raw, real quality. The guitar tone is to die for. It sounds a little proggy. Great lyrics, great vibe. A blissful solo that carries you on a magic carpet through a psychedelic skies, such a great peace. Having A Good Time sounds like a typical, groovy upbeat, rock n roll song from this era, a little Leslie West and Mountain vibe here, and the vocals are great. Some Hendrix-esque guitar fills, and a grooving bassist and drummer carry this tune very well, listening to this just makes me realize that they don't make records or rock n' roll like they used to. Rock is missing that groove, that vibe, that swing, and it desperately needs to come back. For being a live, raw recorded session, the musicianship is so amazing, the band is so fucking tight, it's almost ridiculous. 

Satan is such a mellow, Sabbath meets Santana, with a pinch of early Blue Oyster Cult kind of tune, it has such a mellow tune, singing about the man downstairs who punishes all the unholy sinners. It's so bluesy, and doomy, and literally, lives on the power of the riff. The bouncy bass, the simple drum groove, and the verse riff, and the vocals. This song definitely would've been a huge hit had the band survived. It's so fucking jammy, too. Its a foot tapper, it gets stuck in your head. It's everything a perfect rock song is. An awesome bass outro ends this song, a weirdly, happy sounding bass line, kind of eerie. Fever Machine Man starts with a Sabbath like riff, with a keyboard, so it's like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. It grooves like Led Zeppelin, and the fills inbetween verses are akin to Hendrix once again. The rawness of the record can be heard here, the sound is dense, kind of like that of Bleach by Nirvana, but if it was done in 1970.  It's thick, dense, and slightly uncomfortable, but intriguing. Parkinson really lets his rasp rip here, it almost sounds improvised. He sings and plays the notes with his guitar, similar to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, but done in it's own way. Then the keyboard gets to do this cool keyboard solo, which is so nice to hear. I miss rock bands using that Hammond b3 organ, man. The jammy vibe is similar to the Grateful Dead, but once again, in it's own way. 

Let's Go To The Sea starts with a tribal drumbeat and riff, and starts going into this vibey, psychedelic, doomy track, with a chugging, bluesy riff. Then it quites down, and the vocals are sung in a scary, fear driven way, with a powerful chorus, declaring "Let's go to the sea/to look for the key", just awesome. The it changes a little, slows tempo, and they jam the fuck out of this tune, clocking in at 8:27, it's definitely a trip, man. And it's so fucking dark and groovy, it's awesome. This song is like a sonic kaleidoscope. The guitar solo is plain cosmic, similar to that of David Gilmoure, mixed with a bit of Jimmy Page. Then someone pulls out a Harmonica, and starts playing an awesome  solo over this bluesy bass riff, and then the bass riff turns into a straight up, walky, southern bass vibe, and then the gutar rips into some blues scales, and it is fucking awesome. It leads into Hooked, which is straight up psychedelic hard blues, similar to the Grateful Dead's first record, but heavier. A powerful, soulful, hopeless man's cry for help in addiction. "I just wanna die/I'm hooked and I don't know why," it is just so honest, and real, you can feel it, which makes it an effective blues song. I think the mesh of styles on this album show a band that could've been huge, and it's a shame. 

Under The Black Sun has a kinda Zeppelin vibe, dark lyrics set to an upbeat, grooving, hippie rock song. It's probably my favourite on the album, has some awesome driving bass, and simple, but effective guitar wizardry. The Hammond pounding away in the background of the guitar solo, and gets a nice little spot to solo, it's so cool. Almost has a Doors L.A. Woman vibe to it at times. The final track Stormy Monday, sounds like it was done in an old smokey blues club in the 30's. Soft, mellow, mournful, soulful, and just jammy. A perfect, wonderfully executed blues solo. You can feel what he is feeling as he bends those notes, it just puts you in a trance. The fact that these tapes are both so old, and this was done live in one shot, makes it even better. Anything the production lacks, the performance of these songs makes up for. This is just an absolutely phenomenal album, that was released way past it's era, but still, has built a cult following, for obvious reasons. You'll never, ever hear this on the radio, so there's no commercial viability to it at all. Maybe that makes it all the better, more sacred once you find it.