Archie Ulm – Archie Ulm Experience!

A second private press record of organist Archie Ulm showing off his organ prowess, from 1979, three years after that excellent “at the Yamaha Ex-42” record (appreciated in these very pages [could it be?] nine years ago!) This time working out on the EX-1, according to the liner notes on back, in a font called “I’m a Calligraphist!” When you think Yamaha, you might think of that $129 plastic thing gathering dust in your closet (or a motorsicle) but this EX-1 allegedly cost in the vicinity of $30,000 when introduced (adjusted to today’s dollars, that’s about a billion and a half). It’s one of those things that your cool-gear-alert is never going to bring up, as rare as they are. And literally medium rare, as they were apt to burst into flames, as can be seen in a tragic event portrayed on the album’s cover. That’s a joke. Still, I don’t think they’re easy to find because, after searching for one their other day, I’m not getting ads for them every time I open my phone—yet, someone’s going to find one in church for free, if they bring the muscle to get it in the truck. With the genius Archie Ulm at the controls, it would do things like no other organ ever, for example, when playing “Caravan” or “Claire de lune” it will literally teleport (like that thing on Star Trek) the listener to a hidden room in House on the Rock that no one’s ever found their way out of. Plus, it looks very cool. Some of these performances are solo, and some assisted, with excellent results, by percussionist Paul Hergert and steel-guitarist Larry Carrico. Eight hot numbers (it almost doesn’t matter what he plays—he could make “Hotel California” interesting) including a swell “Time is Tight,” and my favorite, here, “After the Lovin’” (and I was never even a fan of “The King of Romance”). Also, one of the better covers of “MacArthur Park” (I collect them all) though he loses some points for brevity—not doing that part that goes, “Da da, da da, da da da da da da da, di di di di di di, di di di di di di di di,” and so forth. Of course, if he’d gone a further step up to the even more rare and heavy GX-1, I believe that had a Richard Harris simulator. And, though, of course, no machine can match the voice of Sammi Smith, the version of “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” here, is still quite nice. With that steel guitar. Quite nice.

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