God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It

A cease and desist letter meant our brave pioneers had to change one letter in their band name. But that’s not all that had changed with God Bless The Red Krayola. The Familiar Ugly were gone, and with them the manic, unrelenting improvised noise strewn throughout the band’s debut album. Instead, there was a strange, laser-sharp focus, and the beginnings of a capacity to really think on one’s feet. Mayo Thompson excelled at throwing roadblocks in his own way and then finding unexpected routes around or over them, and a conceptual bent was showing up on songs like “Music” and the four-second “Listen To This,” but “Dairymaid’s Lament” is taut rock’n’roll made on privations, and “Victory Garden” proves that even Thompson couldn’t resist a wistful melody.