Tentacle - The Angel of Death (1971/2?)

The internets occasionally so enrage me that I have to step away from the computer for a moment and take a deep breath. I’m sure I’d be able to find a picture of your grandma on here somewhere, but no real information about Tentacle. And that’s crazy.

So what I can surmise, the group comprises some Scotsman – how many, you might query? Well, judging from the record three or four, maybe. Who they were/are remains a mystery to me and will likely remain so.

The disc here – The Angel of Death – was released either in ’71 or ’72. Yeah, different sites have different information. It was produced by a guy named Jim West, but since that’s roughly the same as John Smith, I have no idea what else that dude had his hand in. Allmusic lists a few individuals with that name, but none that would have had too much to do with a psych group from the latter days of the genre. Bunk.

Madshoes, the site that original posted the disc, doesn’t dispense information with albums, so that’s a bum lead. I guess the fact that the poster over there even had the album is enough without requiring him (or her, I suppose) to include any sort of background. It’s just (again) surprising to find such a good album and not be able to find out a blasted thing about the dudes that made it. Well, we should all just enjoy the music here…and that’s pretty easy to do on some tracks.

The guys that make up Tentacle aren’t endowed with Hendrixian talents, but they’re able to work in concert to create a pretty enticing slab of psych. The focus here really has to be on the first track – a twenty minute ride entitled “My Destiny, My Faith.”  It can’t be figured to be the lost height of psych, but in its laid back sections and even it’s shift into something a bit more powerful, any song that’s able to remain viable for ten plus minutes is impressive. The soloing, on guitar of course, isn’t sloppy or ill-advised, but not of top tier quality. But the composition here is able to make up for any of the inherent short comings. And that’s really what’s able to make all of this a disc worth listening to – the cover’s pretty incredible as well, huh.

Whoever the songwriter was mastered the concept of setting loud and soft up against each other. “Thought” does the same thing as the lead off track. The vocalist doesn’t hurt things – and might actually be the most musically adept part of the ensemble. No one’s a slouch, but that blues riff the basser works out gets a bit tiresome.

Tentacle hints at some jazz – and a waltz tempo for a moment – on the title track prior to devolving into an uncertain portion of music that doesn’t ruin the whole endeavor, but should make listeners wonder why this particular track seems so poorly realized.

Honestly, if not possessing a distinct taste for psych, listeners should probably steer clear, although, that lead off track is still pretty tasty.