Bufo Alvarius
Studio album by
Bardo Pond
ReleasedJanuary 1995 (1995-01)
RecordedOctober 1993 (1993-10) – December 1994 (1994-12)
Genre
Length72:37
LabelDrunken Fish Records (US)
Ché Trading (original UK release)
Fire (2010 UK reissue)
ProducerBardo Pond, Art Difuria
Bardo Pond chronology
Bufo Alvarius
(1995)		 Amanita
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Drowned in Sound8/10[2]
Record Collector[3]

Bufo Alvarius, also known as Bufo Alvarius, Amen 29:15, is the debut studio album by Bardo Pond, released in 1995 by Drunken Fish Records.[4][5][6] It takes its name from the toad whose skin contains the psychoactive substance 5-MeO-DMT.

Reception

Trouser Press praised the album, with Deborah Sprague writing that it is "every bit as synapse-destroying as its namesake. More consistently aggressive than like-minded drone-dreamers Magic Hour and Spiritualized, Bardo Pond recalls Hawkwind’s headier days in psychedelic sludgestorms like the half-hour-long “Amen 29:15.” The bottom-end heft is countered by Sollenberger’s ethereal vocals — which bear a passing resemblance to that of Renaissance art-rock songbird Annie Haslam — and her playing, which is so striking that it just about absolves the flute for the sins of Ian Anderson."[7] According to Ned Raggett writing for AllMusic: "The slow, stony pace that "Adhesive" establishes for Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15 continues through the album's remaining tracks, but in such a way that Bardo Pond rapidly become their own band and not merely the sum of their influences. There's something about the combination of lo-fi crunch, post-shoegaze bliss-out, stoner Quaalude head-nodding, and Loop/Spacemen 3-inspired drone that's truly unique."[8]

Legacy

The album has continued to receive acclaim throughout the years. Of the album's lack of commercial success, Noel Gardner of The Quietus wrote in retrospect: "It's not hard to see why: clearly, they were never going to make mass consumption music, but they sounded like pretty much nothing else out there. In the main, they still don't."[9] "Bufo Alvarius didn't just stand out like the proverbial sore thumb when first released 15 years ago," wrote Dom Gourlay for Drowned in Sound, "but actually sounds wholly unique today, its only close compatriots probably being White Hills' Glitter Glammer Atrocity or Earth's The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull. However, where both the former and the latter proffer power and sound expansion over tenacity, Bardo Pond are one of those outfits where the adjective 'experimental' genuinely means what it says on the tin."[10] Italian magazine OndaRock named it one of their "milestone" albums, with Francesco Alti calling it a "strongly modern work, [...] of a classic, timeless beauty."[11] The magazine's editors would go on to rank it the 34th best psychedelic album of all time (a spot it shares with Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request).[12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bardo Pond

No.TitleLength
1."Adhesive"4:34
2."Back Porch"4:51
3."On a Side Street"7:24
4."Capillary River"6:22
5."No Time to Waste"6:57
6."Absence"8:36
7."Vent"4:41
8."Amen"29:12
2010 Remastered CD bonus track
No.TitleLength
9."Fixed"5:31

Personnel

Adapted from the Bufo Alvarius, Amen 29:15 liner notes.[13]

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States 1995 Drunken Fish Records CD, LP DFR-15
United Kingdom 2010 Fire Records FIRE 137
United States 2022 Fire Records LP FIRELP137X

References

  1. ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Bardo Pond: Bufo Alvarius > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Album Review: Bardo Pond - Bufo Alvarius (Re-issue)". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 2021-01-19. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  3. ↑ "Record Collector - May 2022".
  4. ↑ Sprague, David (2007). "Bardo Pond". Trouser Press. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  5. ↑ Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock. Voyageur Press. ISBN 9781627883795 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ DeRogatis, Jim (January 1, 2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780634055485 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Bardo Pond". Trouser Press. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  8. ↑ Bufo Alvarius - Bardo Pond | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2021-01-02
  9. ↑ "The Quietus | Reviews | Bardo Pond". The Quietus. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  10. ↑ "Album Review: Bardo Pond - Bufo Alvarius (Re-issue)". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 2021-01-19. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  11. ↑ "Bardo Pond - Bufo Alvarius, Amen 29:15 :: Le Pietre Miliari di OndaRock". OndaRock (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  12. ↑ "Classifiche dei migliori album della Psichedelia :: Onda Rock". OndaRock (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  13. ↑ Bufo Alvarius, Amen 29:15 (booklet). Bardo Pond. San Francisco, California: Drunken Fish Records. 1995.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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