V.A. - A Beginner's Guide to COMA (1985)

A treasure trove of underground prog from when, pairing the formal inquisitiveness of the format with a more DIY garagey m.o. (no orchestra for you) and a twisted outlook on the general notion of reality, some sort of progressive scene (even if no longer self-described as such) finally caught on aesthetically (and in no other way) in the USA, which begs the philosophical question this gestalteanly wacky sampler from Rotary Totem Records (founded by James Grigsby, of Motor Totemist Guild and U-Totem, ehr, fame?), for the proto-pynchonesque "California Outside Music Association" = COMA (manifesto included), preemptively strove (while ultimately knowing it couldn't help but fail) to clarify: if the 80's had actually been a great decade for real progressive music, but no one was then to hear it, did it really make a sound?