Touted as a "psychedelic" album, this release from the Ed Michel period at Impulse is probably one of the most bizarre items released on the label. Howard Roberts was up to then known as a fairly straight-ahead session musician rooted in the swing and hard bop traditions, and little could prepare listeners for what they are getting here:Antelope Freeway is a road trip of sorts, where the nine tracks are embedded in a background of street noises, chatter, mock radio broadcasts and the like. Roberts' guitar work only loosely follows song or jazz tune structures; instead it's something of a soundtrack to whatever was going on in his or his producer's head.Despite all this looseness and the bizarre framework, the guitar work is actually quite good. While avoiding the obvious fusion trap, Roberts delivers several solos that any psychedelic rock band could be proud of; indeed on one of the track he approaches much of a (Gilmour-era) Pink Floyd atmosphere.Despite having probably been fuelled by massive amounts of marihuana and definitely being a product of its time, Antelope Freeway has aged remarkably well and still stands as one of the better (albeit strange) Impulse releases of the Ed Michel era. Sadly, it was never reissued on CD, but then the number of people who are into this kind of musical experience is probably not too large.

music_emporium Touted as a "psychedelic" album, this release from the Ed Michel period at Impulse is probably one of the most bizarre items released on the label. Howard Roberts was up to then known as a fairly straight-ahead session musician rooted in the swing and hard bop traditions, and little could prepare listeners for what they are getting here:Antelope Freeway is a road trip of sorts, where the nine tracks are embedded in a background of street noises, chatter, mock radio broadcasts and the like. Roberts' guitar work only loosely follows song or jazz tune structures; instead it's something of a soundtrack to whatever was going on in his or his producer's head.Despite all this looseness and the bizarre framework, the guitar work is actually quite good. While avoiding the obvious fusion trap, Roberts delivers several solos that any psychedelic rock band could be proud of; indeed on one of the track he approaches much of a (Gilmour-era) Pink Floyd atmosphere.Despite having probably been fuelled by massive amounts of marihuana and definitely being a product of its time, Antelope Freeway has aged remarkably well and still stands as one of the better (albeit strange) Impulse releases of the Ed Michel era. Sadly, it was never reissued on CD, but then the number of people who are into this kind of musical experience is probably not too large. Actually, the album was released on CD in 2011 as a 2fer along with Equinox Express Elevator.