Harvey Mandel – Cristo Redentor

I actually kinda like the updated cover lmao, johnny mnemonic vibes

The Graham Bond piano credit assumingly comes along with track 4 of the b-side "You can`t tell me" which is uncredited on rear cover, while there is not piano player in the band ... if you know any more records in appearance of Linn County members (except for Flying Bear Medicine Show) please contact me or leave a note, thanks in advance.

Back in late '68 guitarist Harvey Mandel released this Philips LP...Virtually all instrumental (some back ground vocal on first cut) it was his first individual work...He played with Canned Heat, auditioned for the Stones, and was well known in the blues and rock musical arena...If you close your eyes with the headphones one (I have my KOSS Pro 4-A reproduction cans on now) you will note that his work has held up well over the decades...It is a simple fact...Good music will always be GOOD music..."Cristo Redentor" IS a good listen...

I have just purchased a used LP of the Purple Pyramid pressing. Sounds good, well balanced sound and nice quiet pressing...No complaints from my view. The US Phillips pressings vary quite a bit in SQ but can sound good from my experience.

Anyone have any information on this pressing is it digitally sourced?

who's idea was it to update the cover art? It looks so dated now!

Incredible psychedelic rock album with Harvey’s mind blowing sustain guitar and the deepest version of “Wade in the Water” you’ve ever heard. Totally killer from beginning to end and fantastic cover art as well.

Unless you’re able to find “Cristo Redentor” [which means Christ The Redeemer in Portuguese] with the bonus material, this album is for all intent and purposes an instrumental bit of wanderlust from a far overlooked artist, a session and sideman of the first caliber, a man who’s played with the likes of John Mayall, Canned Heat, Charlie Musselwhite, and with the departure of Mick Taylor, auditioned for the Rolling Stones.

Mandel’s sound is all his own, with John Mayall once describing it as “Harvey’s wall of sound,” then going to say that while brilliant and all encompassing, that Harvey’s vision would have changed the course and structure of Mayall’s vision ... so he took his Gibson 355 and set out to see what doors he could open with his mastery of controlled feedback, delay, and penchant for blues and jazz infused psychedelia. People often wave off psychedelia as nothing more than a brief moment in time, belonging mainly to Jimi Hendrix. But listening to Mandrel’s arrangements, arrangements that are tight, restrained, controlled, well constructed, fluid, and adventurous without moving into the world of progressive music, it’s easy to hear that this is a man with a vision ... equal to anything The Paul Butterfield Blues Band did on their hypnotic outing “East West.”

This is a late night adventure, and there’s a reason this album lends itself to a wee hours of the morning listening, where Mandrel gathered together a host of talent ... Kenny Buttry and Bob Moore, who would soon bring Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” to life, the Wrecking Crew rhythm section of Eddie Hoh and Art Stavro, along with Stalwarts, who would be a guiding force for nearly all of the early Monkees’ sessions, Pete Drake, a Nashville genius on pedal steel, and finally, his long time friend and collaborator Barry Goldberg, who’s responsible for the funkier sides. There’s no magic here, no accidents, it’s because of this grouping of talent, that “Cristo Redentor” flowers with such variety and intensity, never sounding dated, styled, or locked into a theme.

This is one of those brilliant albums that cries for a full bodied stereo, one that can deliver and channel the dream. Listening to “Cristo Redentor” is not a step back in time, nor is it a step forward, it rather seems always to be in the moment ... and that moment is a pure delight.

Review by Jenell Kesler