Although El Topo was a popular cult film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and although Jodorowsky is credited with writing all but one of the seven songs on this LP, this is not the same album as the El Topo soundtrack on the Apple label (all of its music was also credited to Jodorowsky). Exactly what the relationship of the Shades of Joy's album El Topo is to the film El Topo remains unsolved -- even after dedicated Internet searching. Whatever the case, however, it's a rather interesting and hard-to-categorize album of seven instrumental pieces, even if it sounds like it might have been the product of a thrown-together, studio-only band. Veering between Miles Davis-styled early jazz-rock fusion, the kind of funky stuff you might expect to hear on some '70s blaxploitation soundtracks, San Francisco acid rock-styled guitar work, and pretty, pastoral neo-classical interludes, it never quite stays in a set groove. Keyboardist Howard Wales is the most recognizable of the 15 musicians credited (none of them are Jodorowsky, by the way), and contributes some really hot organ work. Recorded in San Francisco, it seems like the order of the day might have been to gather some musicians with capable jazz and rock chops and let them work out in a looser manner than they'd been accustomed to. Unlike many such albums from that free-spirited era, though, it's actually pretty reined-in and reasonably disciplined in its instrumental cohesion. If the intention was to create a soundtrack of sorts, it's more interesting and creative than many such endeavors. - Allmusic
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Peace. Out.
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