Between Psychotic Reaction and the Snowflakes swan song, Count Five produced three other albums, each equally great and each a seven-league step ahead of the last. My favorite has always been their third, Cartesian Jetstream (Double Shot DDS 1023). Here we had the fullest development of Count Five as a band that was intrinsically and still unqualifiedly rock ’n’ roll (one need only give ear to the old Anglo-Saxon madrigals and Felicianoan pseudo-Flamenco of Ancient Lace and Wrought-Iron Railings to realize where their true strength lay). Fine and professional, yet intensely driving and almost grungy (sophistication, like history, cannot be braked), it was truly exhilarating music, filled with the wild pulsebeat of creation. Such dynamic originals as “Cannonballs for Christmas,” “Her Name Is Ianthe,” and “Nothing Is True / Everything Is Permitted” bring me back to it again and again, as does the addition of Marion Brown, alto sax, Sun Ra, piano, and Roland Kirk, bass pennywhistle, on the last track, “Free All Political Prisoners! Seize the Time! Keep the Faith! Sock It to ’em! Shut the Motherfucker Down! Then Burn It Up! Then Give the Ashes to the Indians! All Power to the People! Right On! All Power to Woodstock Nation! And Watch For Falling Rocks! " That one was a true brain-blitz, and spotlighted some of the most original lyrics of the year.
Excerpt From: Lester Bangs. “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung”.
