Sandy Hurvitz - Sandy's Album Is Here At Last (Reissue) (1968/2010)

The teenage Hurvitz, prior to becoming Essra Mohawk, made this hit and miss recording for Frank Zappa's Bizarre label. Zappa was the project's original producer, before various disagreements saw him replaced by Ian Underwood. The results suggest that Underwood was narcoleptic, or a perpetual absentee -- it's hard to credit his input with a title so lofty as producer. Hurvitz's songs -- long, formless, intense creations -- may in all likelihood be of the very finest, but it's impossible to tell. All the cuts seem to have been recorded through a dense, woolen sock, and each is nearly impenetrable as a result. Apart from the occasional intrusion of a small band, and a flautist, it's essentially a solo recital -- just Hurvitz and her piano -- but even the songs most bare of instrumentation are clouded and marred by the rotten production job, which also succeeds in making Hurvitz' lyrics completely unintelligible. The song titles -- "Arch Godliness of Purplefull Magic," "Tree of Trees," and "The Sun" -- point towards a bright, sparkling imagination, but the sound quality of Sandy's Album means that even that cannot be verified.