Friday Full-Length: Randy Holden, Population II
Randy Holden, Population II (1969)
He was walking a tightrope made of liquid steel. Mind you, I’ve heard some colorful alternatives to the phrase “playing guitar” in my time, but that one might be the king of them, and it’s more or less the mission statement of “Guitar Song,” the opening track of Randy Holden‘s Population II. Population II was the moniker both of the band and the album, referring both to the fact that there were two people in the band — Holden and drummer Chris Lockheed — and to a class of star that includes some heavy metals in its composition. Not too much heavy metal, but a bit. The album, which at the time of its original 1969 Hobbit Records release had six tracks and ran just under 31 minutes, follows suit. It has flourishes of what would later become heavy metal, but is mostly geared toward weighted psychedelia, acid rock and post-hippie volume. And guitar. “Guitar Song” is a title that could apply equally to “Fruit and Iceburgers” or “Blue My Mind” or “Keeper of My Flame,” even of those tracks — aren’t about playing guitar, which the actual “Guitar Song” is.
Holden, who had done time in various West Coast acts prior, made an appearance the same year on side B of Blue Cheer‘s third album, New! Improved! Blue Cheer!, and toured with that band in replacement of founding guitarist Leigh Stephens, but would soon enough be gone, and it wasn’t until 1996 that he put out another solo album to follow-up Population II, the popularity of which endured as a cult classic of early metal and guitar rock. On a sonic level, it was legitimately a couple years ahead of its time — it would take most acts seeing the explosion of heavy in the wake of the Black Sabbaths and Led Zeppelins of the world to pick up on tonal weight as a lifestyle option; Holden could be considered an early adopter in pushing the envelope licked first by Jimi Hendrix, or The Yardbirds and Cream, if you want to stretch definitions. Still, Population II is remarkably clear-headed in its purposes and its jams, and if nothing else, Holden well earns his footnote among the six-string greats of the era.
In the last decade, he’d release an answer to 1996’s Guitar God in the form of Guitar God 2001, issued the year of its title, and 2008’s Raptor, and this year he has issued the self-recorded Psychedelic Blue, which is available at his website. Population II has seen a handful of reissues over the years as well, legitimate and bootleg, and its cult continues to grow with a new generation of heavy rock heads hell-bent for rare vinyl and classic groove.
—
About to head out of the office and down to Connecticut for the next couple days, so I’ll keep it short. Tomorrow night I’m seeing Serial Hawk in Connecticut, so Monday I’ll have a review of that up. Look out next week I think for the video premiere from Kings Destroy that was originally supposed to be this week, as well as a new track from the Khemmis album coming soon from 20 Buck Spin, and hopefully a track and Q&A with The Exploding Eyes Orchestra, which is an offshoot of Jess and the Ancient Ones that will have a debut LP out soon on Svart. All cool stuff.
Reviews too of the Death Alley record and vinyl something or other. Records are starting to stack up.
To that end, I’ve also started plotting out the next Quarterly Review, which will happen at the end of this month. Don’t ask me how I’m going to manage that while also working full-time, I’m just going to fucking do it and that’s going to be that. Sleep be damned. Not Sleep, the band. Just sleep, the concept.
Hope you have a great and safe weekend. If you’re someplace that has good weather or, say, at the Freak Valley festival in Germany, I hope you enjoy it. Please check out the forum and radio stream. I was listening earlier. Some good shit on there.
Tags: Blue Cheer, Hobbit Records, Population II, Randy Holden, Randy Holden Population II
