Performer Notes
- Personnel: Linda Perhacs (vocals, guitar, programming); Steve Cohn (6- & 12-string electric guitars); Reinie Press (guitar, bass); John Neufeld (flute, saxophone); Tommy Brown (harmonica); Leonard Rosenman (programming); Brian Ingoldsby (sound effects).
- Includes liner notes by Michael Piper.
- Personnel: Linda Perhacs (vocals, guitar, guitars, electronics); Steve Cohn (guitar, electric guitar, 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar); Reinie Press (guitar, electric bass); Fleetfoot (guitar); John Neufeld (flute, saxophone); Milt Holland, Shelly Manne (percussion); Leonard Rosenman (electronics); Brian Ingoldsby (sound effects, hosepipe).
- Liner Note Author: Linda Perhacs.
- Photographer: Bob Flick.
- Arrangers: Leonard Rosenman; Linda Perhacs; Steve Cohn.
- Linda Perhacs' cult favorite Parallelograms instantly evokes the spare and isolated feel of the songs and the production on Joni Mitchell's first albums, particularly her debut (largely solo acoustic) -- not to mention the melodies, guitar playing, and singing. It's not a photocopy, however; it's hard to imagine Mitchell singing "I'm spacing out, I'm seeing silences between leaves," as Perhacs does on "Chimacum Rain," unless Mitchell got spiked with acid right before getting on-stage. In addition, Perhacs is adept at dropping unusual effects and arrangements into the mix, that on occasion have a mildly disquieting and psychedelic vibe. Back to "Chimacum Rain," for example: double-tracked voices get into a slightly hypnotic, disorienting swirl, and suddenly move into a half-chanted section with doomy background notes from hard-to-identify instruments. "Parallelograms" is a round-like vocal (again with multi-track voices), consisting of exactly eight words, that without warning goes into creepy washes of electronically distorted voices, flutes, and rattles. Not all of the record is unusual, though; much of it's just attractively wistful, moody singer/songwriter folk, sometimes with an engaging folk-jazz backup, sometimes just with a guitar, sometimes enlivened by creative smudges of organ and electric guitar. ~ Richie Unterberger
Professional Reviews
Uncut (11/03, p.130) - 5 stars out of 5 - "The latest folk-psych gem to be salvaged from obscurity, Linda Perhacs' only album, from 1970, occupies a beguiling middle-ground between Joni Mitchell and Tim Buckley..."
Dirty Linen (pp.60-61) - "[T]he album, now considered legendary among folk recordings, is the American equivalent of Vashti Bunyan's debut album, released the same year in the United Kingdom..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.74) - "It is deeply spooky....Voices sneak in and give you a shiver like a cold breeze gusting into an incense-filled room."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/01/04, p.53) - Included in Mojo's The 67 Lost Albums You Must Own! - "A psych-folk masterpiece."
