MERRELL FANKHAUSER
Return To Mu (Sundazed)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Drawing on the legend of the lost Pacific continent of Mu, guitarist/composer Merrell Fankhauser, leader of sixties cult bands ranging from the surf instrumental band The Impacts to H.M.S. Bounty and Merrell & The Exiles, produced this album over an extended period of time with a long list of noteworthy participants. Names like John McEuen, Ed Cassidy, Jay Ferguson, John Cippolina, Nicky Hopkins and Dean Torrance are scattered through the credits, giving testimony to Fankhauser's widespread, if largely underground, esteem and influence.

The songs themselves, with new age overtones often verging on science fiction, are generally pop-flavored folk rock, with reflections of Fankhauser's background in surf and psychedelic sounds. They deserve a hearing beyond the cult audience that has grown up around the guitarist over the decades, and that hearing is possible with this Sundazed release of an album that's seen a couple of overseas incarnations, but has never enjoyed general distribution stateside.

It's taken quite a while to get all this music into a form that can get it into your hands - the process has taken long enough that some of the players are no longer with us. Merrell is, though, continuing to make music and to offer his unique philosophical insights through recordings and syndicated television. This album represents another step in the evolution of an American original, and is well worth your while.

Track List:

Mystical Land * Waterfall * On Our Way To Hana * Pictures Of The Past * The Unknown Writer * Queen Mu * Mother Sea * Beckoning Maiden * Polynesian Dream * Time Travellers * Prospector's Moon * Goin' Down To Atlantis * The Land Of Mu * Under A Maui Moon * Matthew's Dream * Lodru's Mu Chant * The Mothership * Mu Rainforest

© 2003 - Shaun Dale