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Orquestra Del Desierto | Dos (The Stone Circle)
'Dos' is proof positive that too many cooks don't always spoil the, well, broth - the broth in this case being a nine-track album of stoner-esque rock seemingly performed by the Soggy Bottom Boys. Crummy cookery analogy out of the way, Orquestra... count some nine individuals amongst their ranks, but it's one man - humorously-named producer Dandy Brown - that's responsible for bringing them together. By calling upon the talents of Pete Stahl (Wool, Goatsnake), Mario Lalli (Desert Sessions) and Steven Brodsky (Cave In), among others, Brown has created an album that evokes the spirit of the Flying Burrito Brothers if they'd emerged from the desert in the mid-1970s, at the height of prog-rock excess. Opener Life Without Colour is appropriately bland, but don't let it put you off - 'Dos' soon unveils itself as a rich and fulfilling experience, and one that'll appease desert-dwelling stoners, cape-wearing pomp-rockers and ageing hillbillies alike.

Mike Diver
March-April 2004

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