Mastering Your Reality With the Masters of Reality

"Come on children, gather round, I'll tell you the story of Old John Brown."

Chris Goss

Just pulled up some nice YouTube footage (filmed "somewhere in California") of the Masters of Reality, performing their classic 'John Brown' with Ginger Baker on drums.

For those of you who know this thoroughly wonderful, completely occasional psychedelic act, then you know that the MoR featured Ginger Baker for just one year (1992-'93) when they recorded the album Sunrise on the Sufferbus. The album came out on Chrysalis, but was met with indifference from MTV, who didn't want to put the band (two bald guys and an old drummer) on the tube.

 Too bad really, because this band was one of the greatest things out in that strange time when hair metal gave way to grunge, and their record sounded like a lost album by Cream.


Singer.guitarist Chris Goss has released a few more albums under the Masters Of Reality moniker, including last year's excellent double set Pine/Cross Dover, but the band is essentially an occasional  project. His real work is in producing.

Based in Palm Desert, California, Goss is regarded as the godfather of "desert rock" (a.k.a. "stoner rock") and produced music by Kyuss and their successors, the Queens of the Stone Age. QOTSA singer Josh Homme played on the Masters' obscure albums Deep in the Hole and Give Us Barrabas.

Checking out the band's official site reveals that the Masters are currently on a U.S. tour to support Pine/Cross Dover. They're playing a series of shows on the West Coast. Hopefully, they can be persuaded to come East. If that happens, I'll be the first in line for tickets.

In any case, "John Brown" appears in its original form on their first, self-titled record which came out in 1997 when the band was still based in upstate New York. This first record (now available only as an import) had some guy named Vinnie Ludovico manning the sticks. Regardless of who's playing drums, the first two Masters records are stone classics, or classics to get stoned to. You decide.

Here's the footage.