Donovan's Brain

A disc with a messy history, featuring the efforts of various sometime-players from the Posies, Steel Pole Bathtub, Young Fresh Fellows and even ’70s improvisers, Man. Brimming with far-out, yet still melodic psychedelia, Eclipse and Debris manages to sound fresh and interesting, despite the fact that this album’s been fermenting in the can for two years already. Thankfully, some things do improve with age. “Tad’s New Cymbal Stand Skips the Tour” opens the disc in a moving, uncompromisingly trippy fashion and “Pollyanna Disillusioned” heads towards early Floyd’s more accessible realms. Instrumentals, such as “Day’s Playing Perky Pat” and the guitar lick-fest, “Still Waiting, Still Dreaming” are freaky treats. Alternatively, “Two White Spiders,” a tribute to Roky Erikson, evokes a lysergically bent R.E.M. (with whom Brain contributor Scott McCaughey toured a few years back). Benefiting from its elastic membership and apparent disregard for schedules, Donovan’s Brain avoids parameters and delivers an entertaining disc of truly wiggy stuff.