Jerry Snell

Multitalented Vancouverite Jerry Snell should’ve learned from the psychedelic era that matching rock one-for-one with classical composition never quite works. Spooky Tooth proved it on 1970’s religious-themed curio Ceremony, which matched up their blues-based rock with Pierre Henry’s avant-garde electronics for truly bizarre and alienating results, and Deep Purple slipped into this odd pairing on 1969’s pompous Concerto for Group and Orchestra (a mistake that Purple’s organist, Jon Lord further explored on the horrendous Gemini Suite and Windows albums). Indeed, it would seem the Nice are the only group that made the hard rock and full orchestra stand-off gel, on their occasionally middling Five Bridges. So when guitar-slinging composer Jerry Snell decided to record a rocking affair in Montreal, bring the tapes to Beijing and overdub them with performances by the Beijing Modern Dance Company for a live performance involving interpretive dancing, one is likely going to wonder why. Bone is perfect for anyone who ever wondered what throat singing might sound like matched up with Yngwie Malmsteen-like soloing, or what a ten-minute version of "Heartbreak Hotel” with tanpura noodlings overtop could achieve. This is music for the truly courageous.