David Torn – Cloud About Mercury
Experimental guitarist David Torn rounds up an all-star cast of experimentalists on his second album from Manfred Eicher’s ECM Records. Cloud About Mercury is a masterful fusion album featuring greats Bill Bruford (drums), Tony Levin (Chapman Stick/bass), and Mark Isham (trumpets). Incorporating North African and East Indian modal concepts, “the album sounds like many things: a sweep of Steve Tibbetts dimensions, a Jon Hassell think piece, a tree with many cultural branches, a spider’s web in sound. Torn roams freely throughout these territories, shouldering a vast load of thematic material.”
Recommended – Full Listen
A1a Suyafhu Skin… 1:11
A1b Snapping The Hollow Reed
Synthesizer – Mark Isham
7:04
A2 The Mercury Grid 6:32
A3 3 Minutes Of Pure Entertainment 7:05
B1 Previous Man
Written-By – Bruford*, Torn*, Isham*, Levin*
7:52
The Network Of Sparks
B2 A. The Delicate Code 4:50
B3a B. Egg Learns To Walk
Written-By – Bruford*, Torn*, Isham*, Levin*
9:11
B3b …Suyafhu Seal 1:11
Chapman Stick, Synthesizer [Synthesizer-Bass] – Tony Levin
Design, Cover – Dieter Rehm
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – David Torn
Engineer – Andy Jackson, Jan Erik Kongshaug
Engineer [Assistant] – Nick O’Donnell
Lacquer Cut By – RS*
Percussion, Electronic Drums [Simmons Drums], Synthesizer [Synthesizer-Drums] – Bill Bruford
Producer – Manfred Eicher
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet – Mark Isham
Written-By – David Torn