Released in 1972, Michael Perlitch’s album Keyboard Tales was recorded in San Francisco’s Wally Heider Studios, with Geoffrey Haslam producing. Musically the set’s a one man show, Perlitch credited with writing all of the material, as well as handling all of the vocals and instrumentation. Starting off with the 14 plus minute “Captain Zanzibar”, the album’s full of material that’s simultaneously melodic, atmospheric, bizarre and occasionally downright disturbing (sensitive types should probably avoid the gruesome “Pete the Bondage Freak”). A gifted keyboardist and a decent singer, who sometimes bares a passing resemblance to Neil Young (the vehemently anti-Nixon/anti-war “America”), lyrically Perlitch turned in some of the year’s stranger meanderings. “Take Off” (described as “The customized spacecraft SPECTOCAR blasts off into the outer atmosphere where with a gaseous burst the second stage separates and glides out into distant space.”) and “Planet Mission Alpha” (described as “Barbarian space savages drop bomb on plant.”) The album was originally released with a gatefold sleeve. (Bad Cat)