siLLy puPPy B U C K E T H E A D PIKE 239 - T H E M E R M A I D S T A I R W E L L 20th album by BUCKETHEAD in 2016 (released on Nov 25) Clocks in at 28:23 ALL instrumental

“The Mermaid Stairwell” (12:04) welcomes you to dreamland where soft plushy ambient effects caress your soul as a tinny guitar lick lollygags into melodic form. Yep, it’s one of those soft, slow and soothing PIKEs where nothing is in a hurry and floats buy like a tropical island breeze. While this is very much like similar PIKEs of the past, the new production process that BH has been utilizing as of late is of superior technological value, either that or the missing gap of PIKE releases in 2016 has been all about mastering advanced techniques and it has certainly paid off. No more are the canned drums that usually accompany this type of track. The atmospheric accoutrements are crisp and clear and the tones and timbres are about as sharp as anyone could hope for. However this is still one of those long meandering tracks that continues a melodic loop with a few melodic twists and turns and never really develops into anything different. Of course these make a good contrast for the super frantic PIKE that preceded but these just happen not to be my favorite types. Not because they are slow and breezy but because they sound too much like the other similar PIKEs of this sort that have already come out. Point blank, nothing original here and as usually with these types when they are of such time length, outstay their welcome. Meh

“Dancing Sparkles” (6:02) sounds like sparkles dancing of course! Much more upbeat and bouncy. Sounds like rather jazz funky like something Herbie Hancock would have come up with in the late 70s. Much better than the snoozer that preceded. This is a rather catchy straight forward electro funk type number with some sizzling guitar contributions. Rather repetitive but decent

“Fairy Boat” (6:57) starts out completely different with slow grungy guitar chords and then turns into an alternative rock type of track with a steady drum and bass that play with a the guitar lick creating the melody which is much like the first track except this one rocks but not crazily so. This one is also repetitive and not very exciting. Meh

“Silver Upon The Ocean” (3:20) picks up the speed with a funk rock guitar riff and heavy bass and drums to back it up. This one keeps the repetitive funky beat going and also delivers a trade of some guitar and bass improv. Almost sounds like a more rockin’ version of something George Clinton would conjure up. Definitely better than last track

I like the two funk tracks and couldn’t care less about the longer ones. The two tracks i do like are nothing out of this world and don’t save this PIKE from being decent but forgettable. I’ve heard worse but this one will not be near the top of my list for sure