Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Release of the Month May 2007 - The Christ Tree



My personal history with religion is checkered at best. I was raised a mainstream protestant christian, had brushes with the Unification Church and born-again fundamentalism, converted to anglican catholicism and had a brief existance as a third order monastic, became an atheist after some emotional upheaval, then finally a quiet pagan. Now, I believe that there is no way that god and goddess don't exist (oops, double negative) ... God as We Understand God To Be is too deep to fit inside one limited set of beliefs called a religion.
Imagine my delight upon hearing The Trees Community The Christ Tree and not just tolerating the christian references, but revelling in them. This is music like no other - meditative, prayerful, organic, joyous, ponderous, a full-on masterpiece of the mid 1970's era. From the Trees Community's website: "80 Acoustic instruments and more are nestled in the Christ Tree. Starting with an initial collection of Indian Sitar, Tamboura and drums, Venezuelan folk harp, American Guitar, French Flute, Austrian Zither and Tibetan Gongs, we began to add more and more instruments. Everywhere we went people gave us full blown instruments or noise makers, ranging from finger cymbals to Japanese Koto; from African Belanji to American Dulcimer".
I only wish I had been adventurous and purchased the 4 cd box set before it went out of print. This one cd version includes:
1. Psalm 42
2. The Parable of the Mustard Seed
3. Psalm 45
4. Invocation (O Little Town of Bethlehem)
5. Village Orchestra
6. Jesus He Knows
7. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless
8. Chant for Pentecost
9. Psalm 46
10. Bird Song
11.Lift Your Weary Hand
12.Your Name...is an ointment poured forth
13.Raga*
14.Psalm44
15. Annunciation
16. Symphony of Souls*
17. Baptism
18. There is Such a Love...that steals into the heart, planting a kiss on deep wounds
* previously unreleased, not included on the box set
Praise the Lord and pass the headphones. Pray that more recordings are forthcoming from this psychedelic christian commune. For more information see www.somedarkholler.com

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