Child Birth Split

This shortie of a split-CD starts out with two slightly extended instrumental pieces from Miracle of Birth, apparently a name for what happens when Jade Larson overdubs himself on keyboards, drums and whatnot. He comes up with stuff that wouldn't sound out of place on a Mahavishnu Orchestra album, musically sometimes the better, sometimes the worse, always recorded as if the someone thought the level meter was an alarm clock. On one playback system the drums sounded like paper bags being smote by Sir Lancelot, the knight and not the calpyso singer. Then comes four tracks from Child Abuse, identified as a trio of musicians reluctant to come forth with their full first names, insisting on using only initials. Musically this group has nothing to be ashamed of, the singer screams his brains out and there is at times more noise than can be experienced at the wrong end of a dental drill. Drummer O.Canfield also plays in a busy fusion style, all roll and splatter — it is possible he could be Jade Larson in disguise — or they could both be Billy Cobham.