22: Cosmic Jokers - Sci Fi Party

What do you do when the jokes have run out? Well it seems that the best thing to do is to take the joke to the next stage. The Cosmic Jokers joke ran out on album 2, album 3 was the cutting room floor and now there's this Cosmic Curiousity. Basically this is a compilation album of records on CC - from Cosmic Jokers past glories, through Wegmuller and Wallenstein and touching on a bit of Ash Ra Tempel too. So it's basically like all the other CJ records - a big mash up of cosmic jam sessions, hastily pasted together to form a horrifically incoherent whole. The stupid thing about this record is: it really works. I don't know why and I don't really want to know but I've had this on repeat for the past week. I don't think I'd buy it, but it has made me feel that I need to own the Planeten Sit In. The key thing is, once again, Gille. She is the cosmic key that opens the cosmic door to cosmic excellence.

The LP starts off with "Im Reich Der Magier" which is basically one of the tracks on the first CJ album. So far so so but half way through Gille and some other bloke start mumbling away about cosmic stuff and it's excellent. Gille mumbles on about Walter Wegmuller, pronounces Tarot to rhyme with carrot and then the track blends into Der Herrscher from the Tarot LP. In a moment of Cope like clarity I decided that this was the best segue to occur in music ever. It's magnificence cannot be understated - prior to it's occurence, Brian Barrit rambles on about a galaxy of phallons. Whereas on the CJ album proper that was a welcome relief, here it sounds crass and unnecessary. But Gille says "Cosmic Composer" and then "Mr. Tarot" and then the track plays. After the wandering tediousness of the past 4 weeks, this is like the ding bit in Mother Sky - utter clarity amongst the madness. The Tarot track is superb and then it follows up with the hilariously titled Cosmic Couriers meet South Philly Willy by Wallenstein which is, again, really really good.

And then it keeps going - all the best bits of those crappy records together, and it sounds wonderful. Gille mutters more and more and they do the best tracks from Planetin Sit It. Bizarrely it sounds like a complete album which is a feat that even the mighty Dieter couldn't manage with the last three records. It all comes to and end with Planeten Sit In again - the beautiful piano refrain from that record. Utterly bonkers that the CJ album that was least likely to succeed ends up being the best record they've done. Or not done. The nature of it makes it feel unessential but it's so good with it. Bonkers.