I don’t care for speculative fiction. Grasping the truth is challenging enough. Stash, a new instrumental album by keyboardist Cooper Crain and guitarist Bill MacKay, compels me to reconsider my bias.
What if the prog-rock of the 1970s hadn’t been ridiculously overwrought and burdened with absurd technical flash? Perhaps then my innate predilection for the form wouldn’t be embarrassing.
The tactful Stash almost absolves the error of my ways. In the alternative realm of Cooper and MacKay, the freakiest work of Bert Jansch and Robert Wyatt are valued more highly than the pomp of Keith Emerson and Steve Howe.
In tastefully refining the sound of the past, Stash is the best sort of throwback. The artists' intent may be entirely different, but that’s the way I experience the recording. But don’t worry- I’m not about to start reading Philip K. Dick.