Live 1967 (Red Krayola Album)

''Live 1967'' is a live performance album by the experimental rock band Red Krayola. It was released in 1998 by Drag City. The two-disc set comprises the band's performance at the Angry Arts Festival in Los Angeles as well as their sets from various shows at the Berkeley Folk Festival during summer 1967. Like all the music played at the festivals, it is dedicated to the troops positioned in Vietnam.

Background

Kurt Von Meier, a University of California art-history professor, became interested in the band after he heard tapes containing '' Coconut Hotel'', Red Krayola's rejected second album. He was intrigued by the band's experimental and free-form music and invited them to perform at Angry Arts Folk Festival in Berkeley and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in June and July. Meier also pushed to get the band to play in the Monterey Pop Festival, but was turned down by the festival's organizers.The band were paid $150 dollars for each performance.

Performance

The music played by the Red Krayola during their sets was completely instrumental and consisted of improvised drone and electronic music, comparable to early Velvet Underground. The first disc contains the band's performance at the Angry Arts Festival on June 6, 1967. The second disc is made up of three separate performances which took place in the evenings between June 27 to July 4. During the festival, the band met the folk guitarist John Fahey, who accompanied the band onstage for an improvisation session. On the 4th, the announcer mistook the Red Krayola's music for an equipment malfunction and continued to talk several minutes into the band's set.

Reception

These performances received a lukewarm response from audience and critics alike. Berkeley's underground newspaper, the ''Berkeley Barb'', dismissed the band as being the "bummer of the festival." Some of audience accused the music of being so abrasive that it was the direct cause of a dog's death during the festival. However, some of the audience appreciated the band's feedback-laden sound, some of whom can be heard chanting "More! More!" at the end of the band's performance on the 4th.

In reviewing the two-disc release, the music critic Richie Unterberger noted his admiration of the band's dedication to experimenting in-front of an audience who expected more conventional music. He gave the album two out of five stars, writing, "The Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd, however, rarely stuck with this kind of inaccessible freakiness for more than a few minutes at a time on record, even at their most willfully obscure. This is ''all'' inaccessible freakiness."

Covers

On Thursday the 24th of October 2019, Lisson Gallery New York hosted a night of performance, discussion and music inspired by the pioneering work of Art & Language and their 40-year collaboration with The Red Krayola, at the event J. Spaceman & John Coxon covered the entirety of Live 1967 and released as ''J. Spaceman, John Coxon – Play The Red Krayola Live 1967'' in 2021.

Track listing

Personnel

;Red Krayola
* Rick Barthelme – drums
* Steve Cunningham – bass guitar
* Mayo Thompson – guitar, vocals

;Additional musicians and production
* John Fahey – guitar
*Kurt Von Meier – production
*Red Krayola – production

References

{{Red Krayola

1998 live albums
Drag City (record label) albums
Red Krayola albums