Ars Nova “Ars Nova” 1968. Psychedelic prog rock from the short-lived 60′s band (they opened for The Doors once), named for a musical style from 1300′s popular in France and Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) or perhaps named for the more general musical style of polyphony (music consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of melody). Either way, super-extra music nerdy. Not surprisingly, the main guys of Are Nova met at a music conservatory and they flex their vast instrumentation muscle with a ridiculous amount of variety: trombone! guitar! organ! piano! trumpet! and layers upon layers of sound. This is my first listen to Ars Nova; I’ve never even heard of them but we have stacks upon stacks of should-it-stay-or-should-it-go? LP’s so I’m slowly wading through them. I like psychedelic rock and am OK with some prog rock but this album is way too extra. The blasting and orchestrated horns put much of the sound closer to straight-up classical music and tracks like the opener “Pavan For My Lady” are too Celtic-folk-lords-a-leapin’ for my tastes (though the guitar work is technically perfect). The song “General Clover Ends a War” isn’t too bad, some hints at actual rough 60′s rock-n-roll on this one (with a LOT of trumpet), but I kinda started tuning out the rest of Side A. Side B starts off with “Fields of People” which is a blend of 60′s flower power and English folk (and again a LOT of trumpet) – not too bad, actually. “Automatic Love” is a jaunty track, that starts off 60′s garage-psych but then promptly dissolves into a vaudevillian/Benny Hill meets the Beatles cacophony. I wholeheartedly agree with this from Allmusic, “The songs – often linked by brief interludes – are a mixed bag, though, that seem to indicate a confusion over direction, or a bit of a psychedelic throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach.” I think this one is going to go.