Munson: Driven to the Point of Abstraction

Artist: Munson

Title: Driven to the Point of Abstraction

Year: 1984

Songs of Note: Driven to the Point of Abstraction, OO-DY-KOO-KOO-DAI

What an odd record. The pointillism on the cover, the white vinyl, no information on the back. Only six songs, more like an EP. I'm not sure why someone would have bought this in the first place. Munson is actually Art Munson, who according to his website has worked with an impressive list of performers, Dick Dale and the Del-tones, Cher, Billy Joel, and John Lennon. I could not guess what type of music would be on this based on that list. I could not find any reference to this album except on Art Munson's website where he says he has been asked if he was on drugs when he made it.

I put the needle down and was greeted with the first track, "Driven to the Point of Abstraction"and was totally surprised by audio snippets followed by a blast of electronic music. I'm not sure if this was sampling other music or just some majorly distorted keyboards and vocals. Thankfully there was a lyric sheet but no instrumentation or band members were listed. I am guessing Art Munson did it all. I was excited to listen to the rest of the album because this first track really surprised me.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album does not live up to the standards of the opening track except for the closing track "OO-DY-KOO-KOO-DAI", which continually chants the songs title behind lyrics that were probably created from one of those poetry magnet sets you put on your fridge. Lines like take a shower with a couch, Put a leopard in your hair, squeeze a cup of tea with a feather in your mouth all sound like drug induced hallucinations or the incoherent ramblings of a street person. It was very strange but held my interest.

The other four songs were not nearly as memorable but were all interesting. I'm not quite sure what each song was about but I think one was about futuristic lovemaking, and another was about a private eye from the future.

If you come across this, I would recommend picking it up for a small price. I wouldn't spend big bucks on it, but a dollar or two seems reasonable.