It?s a real pleasure to see a criminally under-released album get the reissue treatment. Much of the ultra-limited recorded material seeping from the psychedelic underground is snatched up before slowpokes like myself even catch a whiff of the cosmic goodness. All too often a CD-R will disappear from a micro-label?s website as quickly as it arrives, leaving many sonic adventurers thirsty for a legitimate CD or vinyl edition so we can get our paws on it. Thanks to labels such as Indiana?s Family Vineyard, some of these extremely rare gems are being unearthed and dusted off for a wider audience to enjoy.

Dredd Foole (AKA Dan Ireton) has been a mainstay of the American Northeast music scene for decades, both as an erudite scribe and as a charismatic performer. With his backing band The Din ? which has included members of Mission of Burma and Pelt, along with Thurston Moore ? Ireton has barnstormed his way into the crania of admirers of outsider punk and freeform skronk. The Foole also has a softer side; one that can be experienced via recordings such as ?Daze on the Mounts,? which finds his malleable vocal coursings backed by the exploratory lunar rummaging of fellow wizards Matt Valentine and Erika Elder.

Originally released in 2004 on the ever-so-amazing Child of Microtones imprint ? one of MV and EE?s labours of love ? in three extremely limited editions (stereo, mono and ?relics?), ?Mounts? is Dredd Foole?s psychedelic folk opus. Melted Americana kneaded and stretched to beyond oblivion (i.e., the birdsong-laden ?Two Faces?) sidles up next to haunted folk balladry (the amazing cover of Arthur Lee?s ?Signed D.C.?). All the while, Foole?s multi-octave voice swoops, sails and slides ? like Tim Buckley at his weirdest. There is a strange, yet beautiful magic surrounding this record. It?s a bewitching, bewildering trip through the under-explored regions of modern psychedelia. It?s not to be missed and now that it?s been given the reissue treatment, hopefully it won?t. 9/10 -- Bryon Hayes (24 July, 2007)