The Golden Palominos - Drunk With Passion (Venture - VE 905)

The legendary bassist Bill Laswell has a tendency to create flattering bands and all along his carreer, he has shown us enough. Moreover, drummer Anton Fier is not much of a different personality and when these two get together, the result was expected to be fruitsome. They have collaborated with so many artists along their carreers that they have a unique and versatile style of playing. Hence their joint venture in The Golden Palominos results in totally diversified tracks in their albums which stride from one genre to another.

I truly don't have any ideas when or how the project started or ended. However, I know their first album came out in 1983. It is evident that it took some time considering the people that they teamed with during the first recording phase. Just to create a note on this, the first line up included John Zorn, Arto Lindsay and Fred Firth as well. It would have been a truly fascinating feast to listen them at those days. Coming back to the album "Drunk With Passion", it starts with a surprise to some. Michael Stipe makes a guest appearance who is actually a reappearing guest after all. He also appeared in previous albums. The opening track "Alive And Living Now" gives a very positive outlook for the rest of the album. Style wise, the album is not to deviate much from this track. This is also quite contrary to previous albums of the band. This may be due to the heavy effect of the guest artists on this record. Even though they are nominated as guests, almost all are making a comeback from previous ones and they have all learned the sound of the band.

The album flows around styles like Alternative Rock, Pop Rock and Country Rock (Can't really say Southern Rock so that's why I didn't write it as such). Apart from one track,"Dying From Inside Out", where they all seem to use their energies, the album moves around the same comforting rhythms. That track may be due to the guest appearance of Bob Mould from Hüsker Dü, but anyway, it is a good addition to the album. Of course starting from the beginning and coming upto date, the band's sound has changed a lot and therefore it is hard to compare it with the days where Zorn was playing the sax. This may be the ultimate strategy of the band. It is known that Laswell and Fier are both experimentalists in their nature and this band has let them experiment along Rock subgenres with ease. Actually this has album has been their last in venturing the realms of Rock. After this one, they went on exploring electronic music with Bill Laswell taking a more prominent role during the process as his collaborations with Pete Namlook and Ambient oriented artists clearly opening him new ways to venture into. The support they received has been immense and the results have been a joy to listen. The Golden Palominos and all their distinctive albums can be listened to explore the various side roads of Rock.