''Isles of Langerhan'' is the second and final album by

The Late Bronze Age The Late Bronze Age was an American band of the 1980s that performed surrealist, eclectic, and unusual music described by some as "unabashedly weird." It was fronted by Bruce Hampton, in his first appearance under the "Col. Bruce Hampton (ret.)" per ...

, a collaboration between musicians

Bruce Hampton Bruce Hampton (born Gustav Valentine Berglund III; April 30, 1947 – May 1, 2017) was an American musician. He was a key figure in the Atlanta, Georgia music scene, mentoring numerous other musicians who became national stars. His own musical ...

and Billy McPherson. It was recorded in 1982, and was released on LP later that year by Landslide Records. In 2002, the album was reissued on CD by Terminus Records. On the album, Hampton appears as "Hampton B. Coles (Ret.)," and McPherson is listed as "Ben 'Pops' Thornton." Additional musicians are bassist Ricky Keller, listed as "Lincoln Metcalfe," and drummer Jerry Fields, listed as "Bubba Phreon." The album was produced by

Eddy Offord Eddy Offord (born 20 February 1943) is a retired English record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied phy ...

, best known for his work on albums by

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

and

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...

. Cover art is credited to

James Flournoy Holmes Flournoy Holmes is an established visual artist and musician. Growing up in the southern piedmont, Spartanburg South Carolina, the son of two artistically inclined parents, his father was a musician and his mother a ceramics teacher and they encour ...

, and is based on the artist's "vision of having a girl throw water in the air and catching it on film." The album title is a misspelled reference to the regions of the

pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an end ...

known as

islets of Langerhans The pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (hormone-producing) cells, discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans. The pancreatic islets constitute 1–2% of ...

. The song of the same name includes a line that reads "I'd rather be in the Isles of Langerhan."

Reception

In an

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review of the original LP release, Jesse Jarnow wrote: "Hampton's bizarre proclamations are translated into flaming fusion runs... This is certainly not the best place to begin exploring Hampton's body of work, but it's not a bad place to end up." Ann Wickstrom, in her AllMusic review of the CD reissue, remarked: "the music rocks hard and the grooves are deep... this is essentially great rock & roll that was way ahead of its time when originally released." Robert Palmer, writing for ''

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'', stated that, in comparison with the band's debut album ''

Outside Looking Out ''Outside Looking Out'' is the debut album by The Late Bronze Age, a collaboration between musicians Bruce Hampton and Billy McPherson. It was recorded in the summer and fall of 1980, and was released on LP later that year by Landslide Records as t ...

'', the music on ''Isles of Langerhan'' is "tighter and punchier... with the players' rhythm-and-blues roots attractively exposed," while the lyrics "take a long, amused look at social rituals." Palmer praised the playing as "intricate and knotty... with Mr. Thornton's snaking guitar lines and jazzy saxophone taking dominant roles." Hal Horowitz of ''

Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...

'' noted that Hampton's "atonal, throaty ranting, non-sequitur-heavy lyrics, outrageous song titles... and jolting tempo changes" are "an acquired taste," but called the album a powerful example of "Hampton's... warped genius."

Track listing

# "The Isles of Langerhan" – 3:30 # "Time is Free" – 4:45 # "Invest in Real Estate" – 3:07 # "Sea Cow" – 3:29 # "In the Woods" – 0:37 # "Walking with Zambi (Try Hoodah)" – 2:59 # "Pen Pals" – 3:28 # "Celtic Annoyance" – 2:58 # "Yonder Space" – 6:16 # "Mankind" – 2:37 # "Lessons in Equipment" – 2:44 # "Selah" – 1:12 # "A Sensitive Pond and the Sailor" – 5:03 (CD reissue bonus track) # "Jack the Rabbit" – 2:36 (CD reissue bonus track)

Personnel

* Hampton B. Coles (Ret.) (

) – mandolin, vocals * Ben "Pops" Thornton (Billy McPherson) – guitar, piano, vocals * Lincoln Metcalfe (Ricky Keller) – bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals * Bubba Phreon (Jerry Fields) – drums, percussion, trombone, vocals

References

{{Reflist 1982 albums Experimental rock albums by American artists