Colin Ernst‘s “Rocinante Rides Again!” is, as its title suggests, a musical journey with cinematic sweep and flair. In lieu of my own review, I’m tempted to just paste Colin’s text from the Ball of Wax 68 liner notes (which begins “Deep in the far corners of a lonely pasture our hero, feeling the weight of a long life well lived, nibbled a few last blades of sweet grass underneath a crimson sky and awaited the inevitable when lo . . . could it be?!”) but you’ll have to get the physical package for the full story.
Or you can just listen to this song, which lays it all out as well as any text. A quiet, somber opening, wide open spaces and slow loping melodies. Rustling winds and swirling dust, then a cantering bass and guiro set us off on the path to adventure. Drum kit and brass join in and play us along as we dodge cacti and leap old fences, brass trading sections with a wily coyote of an electric guitar. But wait, is that an army of rattlesnakes? No, it’s just the kazoos keeping us company on our journey. This is just the end of Act I, so the tune ends at sunset of the first day, horse and rider resting by the fire, preparing “for what was sure to be their grandest most exhilarating quest yet. Or was it?” To be continued? I sure hope so.