Bill Plummer & the Cosmic Brotherhood
Posted on January 12, 2006 by hcrink
I know next to nothing about Bill Plummer. I guess he was a regular jazz bassist until he “turned on” - as was the spirit of the times, bought a sitar, and formed a cosmic brotherhood. It’s the type of story we’ve all hear a million times but I never tire of it.
The lp starts off with the cheesiest track of the whole thing. It’s not horrible, but it’s embarrassing enough to make you say “Oh my god, what have I done?” However, it’s one of those things you grow to love. The tracks called “Journey to the East” and it’s basically Bill sing/speaking a tale of his cosmic conversion over a groovy quasi-Indian backing. I guess quasi-Indian is what a lot of folks would say about this record, but it’s grown on me much more than some other affairs that could be described that way. There is more of a solid jazz core to most tracks and, well, I’m a sucker for kitsch. The rest of side one does away with the corny vocals and gets into some dope originals and nice covers of then current pop songs. There is an especially nice cover of Bacharach’s “the Look of Love.” Side two shifts gears almost entirely, as there are two long, almost avant, tracks, with a Byrds tune sandwiched in between. It might have been nice to have the Byrds song on side one, where it would have fit better, devoting the whole of side two to spacey drones.
Listen here to one of the jazzier tracks: "PARIS FORTUNA"
Filed under: Jazz, Lounge / Exotica
One Comment to “Bill Plummer & the Cosmic Brotherhood”
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I’ve been exploring the musical genres of the mid- to late-60s recently. This album is a fantastic work to provide background to any happening. Fantastic dinner & hang-out music for summer 2008, and something to break up the Brubeck and Martin Denny.
I have little bio info about the fellow, or anything to suggest an extended discography. If I should find anything, I’ll pas it along.
Cheers