Perry Leopold - Experiment In Metaphysics, 1970 (1998, Gear Fab GF-122)
"Experiment In Metaphysics" by Perry Leopold is a privately released project of legendary proportions. The original LP was recorded in a basement and produced in Philadelphia in 1970. This is one of the monsters of acid folk collecting, an album of which only 200 copies were pressed by Leopold, most of which were given away on a Philadelphia street corner one August afternoon in 1970.
"Experiment In Metaphysics" is a dark, haunted, way-lost acid folk classic: fragile vocals and aggressive acoustic guitar strumming engulf you, whether you're listening to the harder material or the cuts. It is an album fraught with claustrophobic, sorrowful imagery. "Experiment In Metaphysics" is recommended to everyone interested in music. Please enjoy this essential artifact of the psychedelic era.
The Reviews
Review 1:
Legendary LP of acid folk singer-songwriter Perry Leopold, sings and plays like no one before or since, the instrumental tracks are more psychedelic than ten layers of Sgt Pepper tape loops. The vocal stuff's even better, relating Perry's unique wisdom and outcast experiences. These tracks go deep.
Review 2:
Experiment in Metaphysics is, simply put, one of the rarest and most sought-after artifacts from the hippie era. Recorded live in a five-hour session in the basement of a shoe repair shop in June of 1970, most of the 300 original copies of Experiment in Metaphysics were simply given away in one afternoon, yet, inexplicably, bootleg copies of the album have sprung up half-way around the world. The incomprehensibility of such an occurrence arises from the complete lack of publicity afforded the album upon its release. The reason for the album's staying power, on the other hand, is apparent: the music is gorgeous, first-rate progressive folk. In fact, Side Two of the original LP's label was given the title "Acid-Folk", probably one of the very first uses of that term. Perry Leopold creates a proto-gothic ambience full of dark and brooding imagery that is much less cartoonish than most of what passes as "acid," while maintaining that music's visceral punch. Like much of the youth countercultural scene of the times, Leopold can occasionally give into mystical pretentiousness. Experiment in Metaphysics has moments -- namely the spoken word monologue in the middle of the mostly stellar opening cut, "The Absurd Paranoid" -- of philosophical meandering. Still, even those moments maintain a period charm. Mostly. Experiment in Metaphysics is exquisitely intelligent and forward-looking. Leopold's mood is much more pious than most music that came out of the psychedelic era, and, indeed, extreme piety tends to be a product of youth, yet there is something aged and wise about Leopold's music. The air of tangible experience rises from the album. The "Kommercial" side, cryptically subtitled "SMOKE," is conceptually bleak, and after "The Absurd Paranoid" takes on a much more palpable quality grounded in experience on songs such as "Cold in Philadelphia" and the gorgeous "The 35th of May." The "Acid-Folk" side (subtitled "DROP") opens with the stark, multi-part title track. Each of the three songs in this section is a virtual mini-suite, with the closing cut, "The U.S.S. Commercial," standing as the album's magnum opus. The bonus tracks on the 1999 Gear Fab CD reissue are perfect complements to the album proper, maintaining the same high standard of the rest of the album. Experiment in Metaphysics shows some truly progressive and experimental songwriting, even for the time period. Each song, even the instrumental cuts, feels like a story, with beginnings and endings and all kinds of interesting ideas and storylines sandwiched in between. The album is a relic that has not lost one iota of its power.
nb: This Allmusic review is incorrect on two counts: (1) 200 copies of the original LP were pressed. (2) Gear Fab reissued the album in 1998.
The Contents
1. Absurd Paranoid
2. Cold in Philadelphia
3. And Then, the Snow Came
4. 35th of May
5. Experiment in Metaphysics
6. When You're Gone (Everything Goes)
7. U.S.S. Commercial
8. Jets They Roar [bonus]
9. Prophesy [bonus]
10. Dawning of Creation [bonus]
The Personnel
Perry Leopold - Guitars, Vocals
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