Gandalf The Grey - The Tin Angel (2005)

Gear Fab's excavation of the recorded history of Greenwich Village folkie Chris Wilson continued apace with this follow-up to The Grey Wizard Am I (itself reissued three years earlier by the archival label). You needn't be a total sci-fi/fantasy dork to enjoy that 1972-vintage album, though it certainly doesn't hurt. Those with less esoteric -- okay, less geeky -- tastes, on the other hand, probably felt the Tolkien-themed lyricism was more than a little bit twee and precious. Even more well-adjusted, down-to-earth listeners, however, might find themselves charmed by parts of The Tin Angel. Firstly, the music itself is more diverse and, consequently, has a far broader appeal. Secondly, there is nary a wizard hat or hobbit in sight. The CD backtracks to pick up the beginning of the Gandalf the Grey story circa the late '60s. It combines the results of two separate trips into the recording studio, 1968's "The Tin Angel" sessions and the following year's "What's the Excuse," only a few songs overlapping between them, and then rounds out the set with a pair of 1966 tracks by Wilson's previous band, 4 of Us. All were shelved at the time and received their first airing on this disc. There is little of the pure whimsy-for-whimsy's-sake of the later Gandalf material in evidence here. While still at times betraying the starry-eyed and earnest outlook of its composer, the music doesn't even ask you to suspend your disbelief or check your cynicism at the door in order to find its appeal. In fact, it has some darker edges of its own, particularly the 1968 recordings, surprisingly tough-minded, occasionally even gutsy acid folk (note "The Carnival," almost as roiling and insistent as Love's "Seven & Seven Is"). With "What's the Excuse" Wilson moved in a more high-flown direction, the music full of baroque (at times strident) orchestrations and the production detailed with dainty psychedelic flourishes. It is still music that is very much of its place and time, and the past, as the saying goes, is a completely different country. However, unlike the willful unworldliness of The Grey Wizard Am I, which almost plays like it came from a different planet altogether, these songs definitively exist in this world, even if they are being pulled from a time capsule.