Well, it does seem odd in hindsight, but the power dynamics between Windham and
Basho were odd to begin with, and were not like that of a newly signed artist.
Basho was a BIG influence on Ackerman, he says so himself in very clear terms,
and as such it was a matter of course that he sign his idol and get him
recording again after his hiatus in the mid 1970s. But Windham was rapidly
becoming a highly aestheticized 'lifestyle' label and, as can be seen from the
first few records onwards, quickly developed its own presentation style- the
white border, pastoral american imagery, ahistorical, soft tones, warm chords...
To begin with, Basho's records did not correspond with this set-up visually, and
the content had way too many idiosyncrasies and loose ends (both inward and
outward, so to speak) for a label that was forming itself into one that produced
high-quality products for the consumers' lifestyle and well being.

Ackerman isn't clear about why Basho's earlier stuff wasn't fully represented on
the albums (though Visions has a lot of it, I would say, Art of Acoustic is a
different matter though) or why Basho left after two records without any
interest from other labels, but it seems clear to me why it did happen this way.
Art of Acoustic is likely the album Ackerman wanted made, rather than Visions.
The thing is, Basho would compile material for future albums years before they
got a release (notwithstanding changes that might take place in the intervening
years), as we have seen with Warriors of the Rainbow/Rainbow Thunder. He
mentions a few years prior to its release that he had Visions of the Country
'ready to go', so I'd imagine that Windham Hill didn't have much say with it. In
any case, Visions is something of a mix with recordings going back to, I think,
1973.

Art of Acoustic is the product of Basho's new enthusiasm for the new label, and
his eagerness to conform whilst distinguishing himself in a new context. Whether
this new model (less eclecticism, more short, neat, spritely sound paintings,
barely any singing) is conformed to by Basho out of his own volition or not is
neither known nor particularly significant, I would say. Basho was an astute
artist, and was surely aware of how best to approach this new opportunity,
despite the fact that Ackerman has said that Basho could also be very difficult
to work with, even to work for or being helped out. What we do know is that the
Rainbow Thunder material was largely (or perhaps totally) recorded by Basho and
paid for by Windham Hill, so the material must have been at least originally
intended for a third release, or perhaps it was just the less suitable stuff set
down during the recording of the previous albums. Perhaps even this material,
never really suitable for a WH release, was kind of permitted by the label as a
kindness to Basho, maybe even as a compensation for the more specific demands
they were making on him (i.e. the new style pieces). Perhaps WH, sensing his
time there would not be particularly enduring, were happy to enable Basho to get
down a lot of his (clearly beloved) Indian-themed material, both new and
vintage, providing he made some efforts to conform to the label's image. This
theory might even shed some light on why Basho was difficult to work with, and
the kinds of agendas and preoccupations that might have been swirling around at
this time.

This extra material may not have been a huge concern for Windham Hill as by this
time Basho was probably a fairly smooth operator in the studio, especially
considering the short length of many of the pieces compared to his older stuff.
His Takoma engineer at KPFA remembers Basho as a volatile and highly-strung
individual, for example freaking out if a string broke, or a nail. But for his
first proper studio engagement in 1969 (though he had been in Sierra Sound in
Berkeley before to record some piece for Basho Sings) his producer (Ed Bogas)
remembers him as an efficient and professional operator, getting the pieces out
without much hassle. I know nothing of his experience at Vanguard, however.

In saying all this, I do not mean to criticise either Windham Hill or his output
for the label. The new environment that I have been considering here obviously
lead to the creation of two great records, and one particularly unexpected and
distinguished one in Basho's discography- Art of the Acoustic Steel String 6 &
12. I think its to Basho's credit that at this stage in his career he was able
to embrace a new spirit and a new approach, and to deal with it
enthusiastically, reigning in his other, simultaneous, enthusiasms and giving
the label two excellent works that did not seem overly out of place. It was a
compromise to be sure, and it must have been with mixed emotions that he
continued with his less 'suitable' work (and with it poorer commercial
prospects) in the early 80s and onwards. Prior to his departure from WH, itself
probably not at all clear cut, we can assume that there were discussions,
dilemmas, and decisions to this effect, on both sides.

Basho's immediate future as late as May 1981 was still up in the air. In the
Frets issue for which he was interviewed (see files section here for a
transcript), the following is also mentioned on the artists' 'bulletinboard'
(p.63):

"Robbie Basho is planning to release a new album entitled 'Home Again/Songs of
the American West'. The project includes instrumentals and vocals in an epic
vein, with Basho drawing on Sioux Indian lore and other elements of American
history. Basho has yet to choose a label for this production."

Again, there's no certain title for what would very soon become Rainbow Thunder,
Home Again being a song from that record. The title 'Home Again' might even
point towards his feelings so soon after his brief flirtation with the Windham
Hill modernists, It's hard to say.

I hope I've managed to point out a few of what I consider to be the motives and
factors behind his Windham Hill output, and not been too roundabout in doing so.
Considering again the quote above, one can almost imagine the relish with which
Basho might have announced his new plans, knowing the extent to which vocals,
'Indian lore', epic themes and American history would surely have collided with
the values and aesthetics at his old label.


Robbie


--- In robbiebasho_forum@yahoogroups.com, Toni Ruiz <hootfool@...> wrote:
>
>  
> maybe i'm too out of tune about this issue, but i don't understand why
Robbie's Indian Music interests by then didn't fit Windham Hill stylings i think
Robbie could develop perfectly his former Indian themes.recording for that
label, and had to be another motive which made him change the content of his
following albums. sorry anycase if i'm too much roundabout-ing -kind of 
>
> --- El jue, 25/6/09, Robbie Dawson <robbie.dawson@...> escribió:
>
>
> De: Robbie Dawson <robbie.dawson@...>
> Asunto: [robbiebasho_forum] Re: Vanguard Tapes on iTunes
> Para: robbiebasho_forum@yahoogroups.com
> Fecha: jueves, 25 junio, 2009 7:25
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Greetings Alan,
>
> Your impressions and 'narrativization' of Indian II are very attractive, and
I'm sure many people here would share your understanding of Robbie's life/career
arc in the 1970s. The truth for me at least seems to be, as ever, wholly less
satisfying or complete. Indian II was one of those unexpected offerings,
obviously enabled by the 'vault series' iTunes-only initiative inside Vanguard,
whereby old and unheard (in our case unheard of) archive recordings are made
available at very low production cost to the company. For this we must all be
grateful. The true story of Indian II may never be known, and even Stephen
Brower at Vanguard, who seemed to be coordinating its release, may not even know
the circumstances surrounding its non-release and subsequent disappearance. For
my two cents (or two pence, here in England), here's what I think happened:
>
> The first Vanguard release was The Voice of the Eagle, Basho's first
all-Indian style album, for which his friend Frank Porpat painted the cover art
as a commission from Basho himself. I've seen a small piece of correspondence
that suggests that Porpat was then engaged to paint another piece to go with
Basho's second Indian-themed Vanguard release, at this stage tentatively called
'Warriors of the Rainbow'. Somewhere amidst all this, Basho's Persian phase
swept over him, and he went on to produce the astonishing Zarthus record, which
featured artwork by Linda Gardner, with a portrait of Meher Baba. Why the
Zarthus art was not done by Porpat we don't know, though it may be perhaps that
he was not willing to paint a portrait of Meher Baba, or that Basho was a little
less confident (or indeed unable) to commission another work following the one
that had so recently fallen through, or perhaps Vanguard had their own channels.
In any case, I have not heard
> back from Gardner since I wrote to her several months ago.
>
> We don't seem to have recording dates for what has come to be called 'Indian
II', so I would have some difficulty saying whether the recordings originate
from pre- or post-Zarthus, though I would err towards the former. As for the
material on Indian II, it seems to be looking both backwards and forwards, and
doesn't seem to have the same coherency as Voice of the Eagle. Whether or not
the decision was as clear cut as this we don't know, but, assuming Zarthus was
taking its shape at this time, I would imagine Vanguard to have been more eager
for the Persian material over a second Indian-themed collection, and perhaps
this is why it never appeared.
>
> When Basho came on KPFA in November of 1974 to plug Zarthus, he was still
hoping for a release of the material concerned:
>
> "This is, uh, I want to do an album, in the future god willing, if only, you
know, uh, uh I got a couple of record companies kind of down on me at the
moment, uh but, the material that I have, it's either going to 'Warriors of the
Rainbow' or 'Visions of the Country', something like this."
>
> It's hard to know, out of Takoma, Blue Thumb, and Vanguard, which two were
'down on him', but it has to be assumed that Vanguard was one of these. As we
know, 'Warriors' eventually was transformed into 'Visions of the Country', with
a lot of new content. The song he goes on to introduce, following the quote
above, is 'Leaf in the Wind', which is in fact the 'Lemmeria' recording released
on Indian II, and not that released as Leaf in the Wind on Visions of the
Country, even though that was listed as having been recorded in 1973, placing it
between his two Vanguard releases. Incidentally, that Basho was able to bring
unreleaed tapes to KPFA for the interview indicates that copies were in his
possession, and so are in all likelihood stored away somewhere (we hope and
pray) with the missing hoard that is in the care (again, hope) of some unknown
Meher Baba storage facility in the States.
>
> There is a kind of coda to the story I'm trying, in an odd way, to sketch out.
Following his quiet dismissal from the rapidly advancing Windham Hill roster,
some existing Windham-era tapes left with Basho, and eventually made their way
to the tiny Palo Alto company Silver Label Recordings. I think, after so many
years, and his Windham Hill make-over plans kind of in the dust, RB decided to
resurrect his 'Warriors' plans, eventually naming the record 'Rainbow Thunder',
though with vastly different content, again. What's interesting, as as yet
unknown, is whether the Porpat painting on the cover is that which was
commissioned by Basho, and which never appeared, in the 1970s. I'm guessing it
is.
>
> This all departs from Alan's comment about his 'broken spirit', but I think it
might possibly shed some light on these impressions. Windham Hill was a new era
for Basho, and it was probably evident to him that his Indian-themes and big
visions were not compatible there, and a new tack was needed. Needless to say,
these visions were receiving their own outlet in a big way via the written
compositions he was working on for much of the 1970s, and naturally at the same
time as his Windham Hill work, though we never really got to see or hear any of
that. If Basho's spirit was broken at all, I would say that was just a result of
this change of direction, and that it was firmly reinstated with Rainbow
Thunder, though a little dusty after all those years. Another indication that he
was returning to his pre-Windham era interests at this time is that around 1982
(roughly, I think) he contacted his old collaborator Susan Graubard (from
Tassajara on Falconer's Arm I
> c. 1967) with the hope of working with her again on some of his composition
work, much of it having been started in the early- to mid-1970s.
>
> Of course, one thing that is sorely lacking from the live dates list is the
kind of set list he was performing throughout his career, though as we know by
the early 1980s he had largely dropped his 1970s repertoire in favour of his
shorter compositions and revived guitar solos like Pavan India. As for Alan's
comment on the loss of 'passion' later in his career, this seems a fair comment,
but I don't agree entirely. The Vanguard era was a high point, with Basho later
referring to this time as one in which he 'rode a little high', and that
exuberance is clearly audible in these recordings. Though, lack of passion (and
all that entails in the Vanguard era) in his later years was bound to be more a
calculated response to what was demanded of him by his new circumstances than
any deeper existential weakening. In its own way, Rainbow Thunder is a confident
return to the 'passion' of his earlier years, and as 'departure' songs go, The
Long Lullaby from RT
> surely trumps Death Song from Indian II, which is saying a lot, I think. All
the same, there are certainly parallels between the two works. Anyway, I still
feel there's a lot to be said about Basho's 1970s existence, and I hope to get
it all down on paper soon, and would love to hear all your thoughts and opinions
in the meantime. I ended up writing 6,000 odd words solely dedicated to his life
and music in the 1960s, and definitely feel as though there's even more again to
be drawn from the data we have relating to the 1970s. For those that are
interested, I hope to get the work I have done already out to you as soon as I
get my act together. Fyi, its title, taken from an old Jabberwock billing from
1966, is 'Guitarist of the Other Shore: Robbie Basho in the 1960s".
>
> All the best,
>
> Robbie
>
> --- In robbiebasho_ forum@yahoogroup s.com, "Alan" <alan@> wrote:
> >
> > I believe it's called "Indian II", I don't have access to the iTunes music
store in Hong Kong, so I got some friends in the US to download it for me about
a year ago. Listening to the intensity of this work, it's clear that some of the
passion was lost in later recordings.. . some of the songs appear on Visions of
the Country, also Rainbow Thunder, but not with the same delivery. I'm just
reading between the lines here, but I guess the loss of a major record deal must
have been something of a blow. There's nothing polite or people-pleasing about
this recording, it's pure distilled Basho.
> >
>