One Spin at a Time Don Preston – Vile Foamy Ectoplasm (1993)

 

One Spin at a Time

Don Preston – Vile Foamy Ectoplasm (1993)

I found this one in a used bin, spine barely legible, title unreadable unless you squinted. The name Don Preston jumped out — I knew him from his time with Zappa, warping keyboards into electronic chewing gum in the Mothers of Invention. That was enough for me.

The cover is what you’d expect from something called Vile Foamy Ectoplasm — cartoon mutant vibes, a little gross, a little playful. It doesn’t promise jazz, or fusion, or anything, really. Which is part of the appeal.

The music? Alien jazz freak-outs, derailed lounge music, synth squiggles, half-sincere crooning, and serious keyboard chops hiding behind a lot of goof. It’s like if Sun Ra watched Ren & Stimpy and tried to record an album in his basement with salvaged gear from a haunted science fair. There’s humor, but there’s also form — Don knows what he’s doing, even when he’s pretending not to.

It’s not a record I’ll throw on for company. It’s a record I sit with when I want to hear a trained musician blow up the rules in real time.

This one earned its place on the shelf.

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