|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
=
August 2020 = |
|
|
Pink Fairies & friends |
Alison Cotton |
Mary Lattimore
& Mac McCaughan |
The Lost Stoned
Pandas |
Sendelica |
Kanaan |
Monkeytrial |
Mummise Guns |
Black Helium |
Taras
Bulba |
Jeff
Kelly |
Buck
Curran |
Trappist
Afterland |
Ian A
Anderson |
Rose City
Band |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PINK
FAIRIES AND FRIENDS - CHINESE COWBOYS/DR.
CROW/PICK-UP THE PHONE AMERICA!
(Floating
World triple CD)
It’s been a few grim years for long-standing fans of
the Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club and All-Star
Rock and Roll Big Band. Since 2013, we have lost
Mick Farren, Martin Stone, George Butler, Larry
Wallis and Duncan ‘Sandy’ Sanderson, and lest we
forget Boss Goodman. Following Mick’s tragic
death onstage with the Deviants at the
Borderline Club on Saturday 28th July
2013, there has been to what seems in all
intents and purposes a final Fairies studio
album, Naked Radio with original
members Sandy and Russell being joined by Andy
Colquhoun, the aforementioned Butler and Jaki
Windmill. But the legend lives on. Floating
World certainly seems to think there is still
life in the old dogs yet and hot on the heels of
last year’s 3-CD collection of the Pinks early
70s Polydor recordings comes another instalment
reactivating later adventures.
Not bad for a group, which Time Out described
as one of the naffest bands of all time, when
the band reformed for its first major reunion in
a decade in March 1987 at the Town and Country
Club. And that is as good a place as ever to
start with this reissue. It surprised the f***
out of even the most devoted fans to learn that
the Pinks were reforming, though it did coincide
with that Alice in Wonderland psychedelic
revival and the first raves. Larry, Sandy,
Russell and Twink back on stage together, who
woulda thunk it? And it was welcome shot in the
arm back in those days of mass New Romantic
saturation.
With original guitarist, Paul Rudolph back home in
Western Canada running a bike shop, they called
up long-time Wallis collaborator, Andy
Colquhoun, no stranger to all things Fairy and
Deviant with a relationship with Mick Farren
stretching back to the latter’s second solo LP
in 78 and the Good Guys combo [Andy was also a
veteran of the first Terrastock festival,
alongside Mick]. This line-up’s one studio
effort, Kill Em and Eat Em hardly
reclaimed the glory days of the early 70s and
would have benefitted from Savage Pencil
artwork, submitted but vetoed by both group and
record label (Demon). Tracks like ‘Broken
Statue’ and ‘Taking LSD’ were already well known
to hardcore fans from solo ventures, and there
was undoubted filler in there but at least two
classics skulked amidst the general air of
mediocrity. Both from the pen of Colquhoun and
Farren, ‘Waiting for the Ice Cream to Melt’, a
paean to the joys of bondage, featuring a
magnificent solo from Andy, which was worth the
price of admission alone, and the unbridled
rocking anthem, ‘White Girls on Amphetamine’,
here the group managed to slip the reins of the
studio and give us a taste of what they could
deliver.
Back in 87 it was all in the live act, so this waxing
recorded in Leeds and at Long Marston Speedway
by the late Barry Everitt and originally issued
by Voiceprint in 2012, is a pretty good
indication of where the Pjnks were at in
87, when at least in concert, Larry and Twink
were reading from the same page and the whole
shebang could whip up the kind of racket we all
loved them for. It was a repertoire mainly
culled from more recent, Wallis-dominated
recordings but with both sides of that long-gone
debut 45 ‘The Snake’/’Do It’ thrown in to keep
even the most ardent Never Never Land
aficionados happy. Of course, by early 88 it had
all ended in tears again and Andy, Sandy and
Russell took off in the short-lived but
excellent Flying Colours, before Andy left for
LA and Larry, having picked up the pieces,
eventually did OK with his Redbirds trio.
Cut to 2003, and whilst the Wallis trail was growing
cold, the Stateside Deviants (core members
Farren and Colqhoun) were still hard at it both
live and in the studio and then some. I have
some deep affection for Dr. Crow – I
knew I was going to like it right from the
moment I saw Ed Barker’s cover illus (another PF
alumnus sadly long gone). Maybe I was still
basking in the afterglow of reading Farren’s
recently published autobiography and the launch
at Filthy McNasty’s (the last time I saw Larry
play live, on this occasion flinging in licks
and fills with skilled abandon behind Mick
reading chunks of his book, like the devil he
was). Whatever, out of all their 21st
century output, this is the one that does it for
me. Micky could never hold a tune but there was
no stopping him here, from the almost catchy
Press Gang shanty, ‘The Murdering Officer’ to a
reworking of the folk-blues chestnut ‘Gonna Need
Somebody on your Bond’ and an updated rendering
of Mick’s tribute to Silver Screen horror star
‘Bela Lugosi (2002)’, this is a winner. Farren
was always one of THE lyricists, an ace
storyteller and there is sterling musical
support from Jack Lancaster, Doug Lunn and the
great Ric Parnell (of Atomic Rooster, Horse and
Horace fame). Incidentally it was the first CD I
turned to after Mick’s passing.
And so, to disc 3, put out fairly contemporaneously
with the good Dr. Crow. Arguably the
most positive aspect of this 3-CD reissue is
that it gives some very welcome exposure to Andy
Colqhoun’s solo album recorded in 2001, Pick
Up the Phone America! And pretty much only
available till now as a Japanese import. (Dr.
Crow at least got a UK deal via Track
Records).
The stand-out has to be Flying Colours ‘Runnin’ Outta
Road’, a steaming slice of biker/stoner rock
that should be better known. Buried on the Silence
of the Hams cassette Jeff Holmes put out
aeons ago, this mother sure burns the rubber,
with some rugged and delightfully deranged lead
– this would have certainly lifted Kill Em
and Eat Em, a notch or two had they
recorded it in back in 87. Russell’s skin
pounding on this aside, all the drum work is
handled here by fellow ex-pat, Philthy ‘Animal’
Taylor. There is plenty of choice, from the 70s
Bowie-esque opening title cut to his own
interpretation of ‘Harlem Nocturne’, Earl
Bostic’s jazz standard (possibly best remembered
as the Mike Hammer theme tune), Ventures-style
work-outs (‘Mata Hari’, ‘Zoomer’) and more
conventional hard rockers like ‘Mutant’. There
is even a decent stab at an instrumental version
of the Doors ‘Riders on the Storm’. Colquhoun is
an underrated lead guitarist and if nothing else
this is a showcase for his undoubted six-string
talent.
So, by no means vintage Pink Fairies material, but to
quote Roy Harper, some cool flashes from the
archives of oblivion, and proof that even later
in their careers collectively and individually
these blighters could still deliver more than
just the odd gem.
(Nigel Cross)
|
|
|
Home |
ALISON
COTTON – ONLY DARKNESS NOW
(Cassette/DL
on Bloxham
Tapes)
Fans
of Alison Cotton’s music will already be very
happy this year with a number of releases
documenting some wonderful recent studio and
live performances and reissued classic material
from The Left Outsides and The Eighteenth Day of
May. This outstanding new cassette release
brings together previously released pieces and
new material in an intoxicating and memorable
album length collection.
Alison
has developed a sparse yet rich sound that uses
minimal instrumentation based primarily around
viola, harmonium, omnichord, small percussion,
piano and voice in beautifully spacious
arrangements that create transportative and
addictive soundscapes which, depending on your
listening mood and setting, are perfect for
those relaxed, reflective or melancholic moments
but also when you want to immerse yourself in a
simply gorgeous meditative and indeed happy
deeper listening place. The music takes in
elements of modern composition, early music,
devotional chant, folk melodies, Celtic ambience
and subtle improvisation and to my ears treads a
path between the sparse melancholy of Laura
Cannell, the lush, elegiac ambience of the
Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil at their most
otherworldly and the achingly beautiful sounds
of holy minimalism.
The
opening piece ‘Behind the Spiderweb Gate’
extends to a little over 20 minutes and dates
back to a previous release on the Longform
Editions label. The piece is inspired by an
imposing Gothic house with mysterious black
spider web shaped gates chanced upon during a
visit to France and is an interpretation in
three broad parts of the walk to the house up a
secluded woodland path, arrival at the
mysterious house itself and its sinister,
mysterious atmosphere and finally entering its
grounds. It is a haunting, lyrical and indeed
cinematic piece with a monochrome beauty which
evokes exactly that sense of wonder and menace
with the lonesome viola centred melody, and
harmonium, minimal percussion and piano with
occasional almost dissonant strings providing
subtle melodic twists and colours and describing
the action so to speak. Following this epic
opening, a short piece ‘In Solitude I Will Fade
Away’ has a title reminiscent of folk balladry
or an early music lament and indeed it has a
strong folk melody for multi tracked vocals
which would be a beautiful acapella piece in its
own right but here is accompanied by subtle
strings which accentuate and complement the
vocal well. ‘How My Heart Bled In Bleeding Heart
Yard’ floats on hypnotic drones accompanied by a
sparse viola melody with wisps of wordless
vocals which at times has the lyricism of a
melancholic string quartet and the sad beauty of
an early music lamentation. Another short piece
‘The Hill Was Hollow’ is introduced with a faint
percussive heartbeat over which another achingly
gorgeous viola melody floats in the air and it
sets the scene perfectly for the finale of
‘Shirt of Lace’ which in tone and feel mirrors
the opening piece wonderfully well and provides
therefore a sense of journey. ‘Shirt of Lace was
recently released on a ‘blink and you’ll miss
it’ limited edition lathe cut release and is an
interpretation rather than cover of an obscure
composition by Dorothy Carter released in the
mid 1970’s. I was privileged to see Alison
perform this in a jaw dropping performance in
Todmorden last year (recorded by Terrascope
Covert Mobile Recording Services aka yours truly
and subsequently released on Sensory Leakage
Records) and it’s a treat to finally see this
appear in recorded ‘studio’ form. It’s a
captivating vocal performance almost hymnal and
Cathedral-esque
in feel and with nothing but a simple
drone and viola accompaniment it somehow manages
to create
a widescreen spacious beauty dripping with
atmosphere. It’s an absolutely sublime end to
this beautiful release.
Despite
the Dylanesque darkness of the album title this
is not a gloomy record and is a masterclass in
superior mood enhancing music. Alison has built
firmly on the musical palette, atmospheres and
textures of her first album release ‘All Is
Quiet At The Ancient Theatre’ and the more
recent mini album released on Clay Pipe Music,
‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’ to create a
wonderful minimalism that is capable of creating
the most lyrical and cinematic of soundscapes
and inventive compositions and arrangements that
bring together a number of musical worlds in a
refreshing and ,most importantly, hugely
entertaining way.
By the time you read this I imagine the
cassette release will be either sold out or in
perilously short supply but do not despair as
the good folks at Cardinal Fuzz Records will be
putting out a lovingly packaged vinyl version
later in the year, as indeed they did with the
debut recording. I for one can think of no finer
thing deserving of a vinyl issue and so if you
can’t get the cassette do not miss the chance to
pick up this exceptional release on vinyl in due
course.
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home
|
MARY
LATTIMORE
MAC McCAUGHAN - AVL>
(LP/Digital
on New
Rain Records)
LA-based
harpist Mary Lattimore has been quite busy as of
late. In
2020 alone, she’s released the singles “Cake,”
“We Wave From Our Boats,” “Dreaming of the Kelly
Pool” (with Paul Sukeena, part of the Mexican
Summer/Looking Glass singles series), “A Unicorn
Catches a Falling Star in Heaven” (27 minutes,
that), plus she plans to release the album
Silver Ladders on 9 October, produced by
Slowdive’s Neil Halstead.
In between all of that, we have this
little beauty of a live album, AVL, with Mac
McCaughan on synthesisers.>
Lattimore
likes to collaborate – wise for a harpist – and
has worked in the past with the likes of Meg
Baird, Jeff Zeigler, Jarvis Cocker, Thurston
Moore, and Kurt Vile.
AVL came about as Lattimore and McCaughan
were touring last year to promote another live
album, 2019’s New Rain Duets.
AVL contains nothing from that album,
being all improvised material.
Aside
from a slightly distant sound, as if recorded
from the back of the theater, you’d almost never
know AVL is recorded live (in Asheville, North
Carolina), as there’s scarcely a cough heard
from the audience, besides a surprising “whoo!”
out of nowhere in the middle of “Skinny Dip
Falls,” well into the deep zone of the LP.
AVL is gorgeous. Although there are seven
tracks, they all flow together seamlessly
without break, and if you’re like me, you’re
liable to not even notice you’ve advanced from
Track 1 (Battle Park) to Track 5 (Bridal Veil
Falls) or whatever.
Mary Lattimore is the more famous name on
the cover, but truthfully, this is more
McCaughan’s record.
His synth work, with Lattimore’s plucky
accentuation, is akin to what I’ve always
thought in this caveman mind as “planetarium
music.” Perfect
for stargazing under a beautiful, warm, summer
night sky. Might
even catch comet NEOWISE if you’re lucky (don’t
worry if you don’t – it’ll be back in another
6,766 years)
With
McCaughan laying out the heavens for all to see,
Lattimore’s harp provides the stars’ twinkling
lights. I
get just one chance to call Mary’s playing
ethereal without being repetitive, so here goes.
Mary Lattimore spreads her lovely,
ethereal harp over the top of McCaughan’s wide,
celestial sonic meanderings, the sprinkles on
top of a very luscious cupcake.
What
you, the listener, get is 33 minutes of
sumptuous, unadulterated peace.
AVL – the acronym is never explained - is
sure to put you in your happy place.
By the time “All Souls” wraps up the set,
you’ll be relaxed, cozily refreshed and sated.
Mac McCaughan earns a PhD in inducing
more head-to-toe relaxation than a candle-lit
bubble bath, and Mary Lattimore adorns the
proceedings with magical harp droplets.
Ahhhhh.
(Mark
Feingold)
|
|
|
Home
|
THE
LOST STONED PANDAS –
PANDADEMIC
(LP
on FRG
Records)
Last
year we saw a flurry of new material from The
Lost Stoned Pandas, a new side project which
emerged from the bustling cottage industry
housed at Sendelica World Headquarters in their
Cardigan, West Wales hideaway. The project was
born of a conversation between Pete Bingham from
Sendelica and writer/musician Kris Needs and
with special guests a plenty some fine new and
largely experimental music came out on an EP and
full length album release, bursting with ideas that
covered a lot of musical ground from the
expected space rock, folk rock and kosmische
touchstones to hallucinogenic collages of
voices, environmental sounds and ambient dance
music. It was a playful and hugely enjoyable
experiment setting out a number of directions
that future releases could pursue. It’s been a
while and the world has changed dramatically
since last year but the slightly slimmed down
Lost Stoned Pandas are back with a mini album of
two tracks called ‘Pandademic’ (or should that
be ‘Pun-dademic’?).
The
first track is ‘The Great Lockdown of 2020 (The
Orb’s Freedom Over Fear Mix)’ which has an
upbeat electronic motorik dance beat with a
touch of Kraftwerk in its feel but also perhaps
the more dance informed ambience that Tangerine
Dream embraced around the time of the ‘Exit’
album. Little jazzy wisps of sax, distant drones
and electronic sounds peak through the clinical
beat to soften the almost robotic rhythmic
sound. Following this and in a completely
different style is ‘Lazy Anyday Afternoon
(Pandas Munchies Mix)’ which features gentle
acoustic guitar and soaring yet minimal electric
guitar to create a beautiful laid back pastoral
krautrock imbued psychedelia with a haunting and
serene repeating melody. Side
two comprises an alternative version of the
opening track, ‘The Great Lockdown of 2020
(Consterdine’s Dr Benway’s Cure Mix)’ which is
very different from The Orb’s treatment and
focusses much more on a kosmische informed
ambience rather than beats. Field recordings of
birdsong and environmental sound provide a
setting for the minimal washes of drone, buzzing
and soaring space rock guitars and electronic
beeps and pulses which are reminiscent of Popol
Vuh in Aguirre mode and also Phaedra era
Tangerine Dream. The tempo does eventually raise
as things gradually morph into a throbbing
almost industrial psychedelic dance soundscape
but the beats are nothing like as dominant as
The Orb’s version and they give the track a
euphoric feel that would get festival feet
tapping very nicely indeed, giving Faithless and
other such purveyors of blissful beats a run for
their money.
This
is an enjoyable take on the Panda sound where
the summer festival sounds of dance are given
The Lost Stoned Panda treatment and with some
success. For fans of the Lost Stoned Pandas this
mini album will see the dancing shoes dusted
down and some socially distanced shapes thrown.
The laid back joy of Lazy Anyday Afternoon was a
real treat for these ears and maybe deserves a
setting less starkly in contrast to its noisier
neighbours. It would be good to see some of the
other angles from their earlier work taken and
developed through future releases. I see from a
quick glance at the internet that the collective
name for Pandas can be an embarrassment, a
bamboo or a cupboard of Pandas. Well we
certainly have an embarrassment of riches in The
Lost Stoned Pandas project and let’s hope they
aren’t locked away in a cupboard anytime soon.
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home
|
SENDELICA
– THE COMPLEAT
CROMLECH CHRONICLES (CD
on Fruits
de Mer Records)
Here
at Terrascope we’ve been enjoying the prolific
releases of Sendelica and their various side
projects for some years now but perhaps the
centrepiece of their musical endeavours to date
has been the Cromlech Chronicles series which
since 2015 has resulted in four excellent
individual vinyl volumes and a number of related
releases including live and remixed versions of
various songs. Sendelica working with Fruits de
Mer Records have now brought the Cromlech
Chronicles to compact disc in the shape of a 6CD
box set which inexpensively brings together the
original vinyl releases along with a wealth of
bonus material including demos, alternate takes
and outtakes and live material. Sensible pricing
means this is a great starting point for the
Sendelica newcomer and also a handy definitive
collection for existing disciples.
It
would take a long review to delve into each
album in any detail but the Terrascope back
pages contain some wise and insightful reviews
of the original vinyl releases from a number of
its ever humble contributors and I will direct
the curious to delve in for a riveting read. But
right here right now and in a nutshell the
Cromlech Chronicles has been a journey of
discovery and indeed collaboration for Sendelica
where each volume has evolved and expanded their
sound (often with the help of special guests)
and what we now get to see and hear in this box
set is the sheer range of their ambition,
willingness to experiment and to take their
journey in new directions whilst keeping a
cohesive body of work that sits well together
under the Cromlech Chronicles heading. The debut
volume features the side long vinyl epic ‘The
Cromlech Suite’ a now well established live
favourite where space rock and cosmic boogie
meets flying teapots and stops at all points in
between as well as shorter numbers where the
trademark sax/guitar interplay is given its full
head nodding licence and calmer more ambient
textural sounds are allowed room to breathe. The
second volume (my personal favourite) is more
meditative and at times pastoral and
exploratory, consisting of two side long pieces
encompassing more textural, Celtic and even jazz
tinged kosmische and a strong cinematic quality.
The two tracks ‘Ripples of the Megaliths’ and
‘Even Though My Mouth Is Silent’ have to my ears
influenced some of Sendelica’s more recent side
projects quite profoundly. The third volume once
more returns to the realms of scorching psych
prog with tracks such as ‘Slow Burner’ and the
heady Hawkwind tinged ‘The Lost City of Cardiza’
but it retains some of the more experimental and
pastoral ambience of the previous volume in the
environmental sounds of ‘Teifi Marshes’ and jazz
influences are on show in lengthy space rocker
‘’Star Flower Blossom’. The fourth and final
volume (subtitled ‘The Door Into Summer’) once
again has diversity at the core of its lengthy
tracks such as ‘Lightstar’ and ‘Saturnalia’
where high flying space rock and the more
languid exploratory jams of West Coast late
sixties psychedelic rock come together
wonderfully well.
The
extra material in the box set includes well
chosen live tracks from sets at Lucid Dreams,
Wurzburg and Glastonbury Psyche Festival
highlighting what a fine and dynamic band
Sendelica are on stage. The sax and guitar
interplay is often thrilling and the powerful
peaks and quieter moments of the studio
recordings thankfully don’t get lost in a live
setting. Excellent recordings of ‘The Cromlech
Suite’ and ‘Lightstar’ amongst others will make
you miss live music all the more bitterly. There
are also demo recordings which have their own
charm, in particular a lovely home demo of
‘Teifi Marshes’ and the spooky filmic tones of
‘Theme From An Imaginary Victorian Ghost
Hunter’. Aborted tracks, alternate versions and
outtakes also find a welcome home here. The
delicate, jangly and jaunty groove of Cromlech
IV outtake ‘Paper Petunias’ and the aborted
track (from Cromlech II) ‘Carpet Ride’ with its
serene kosmische beauty richly deserve a public
outing and this box set is the perfect way to
provide it.
This
box set is a great example of a well put
together compendium of music that tells a story,
gives the collector and curious newcomer equal
value and doesn’t break the bank. If you are new
to Sendelica, dive in and enjoy a journey
through the music of one of the UK’s finest
progressive psych rock bands and you won’t be
disappointed. If you are already a fan well what
are you waiting for and I guess you haven’t
waited at all to order a copy.
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home |
KANAAN
–
DOUBLE SUN
(LP/CD/Digital
on El
Paraiso Records)
Kanaan
is the Norwegian instrumental psychedelic rock
trio gracing us with their third album Double
Sun. It’s
their second release of the year, following the
all-improvised ‘Odense Sessions’ with Causa Sui
guitar virtuoso and El Paraiso co-jefe Jonas
Munk. Having
reviewed Odense Sessions earlier in the year, I
had every intention of passing on Double Sun,
‘cause there are lots more fish in the sea.
But you see, a double sun has a whole lot
of gravitational pull, and this one hauled me in
because – and I’m going to use a technical term
here – it’s SOOOOO damn good.
Double
Sun is quite different than Odense Sessions, and
is more in the methodical, structured style of
their 2018 rookie album ‘Windborne.’
Kanaan has improved with each album in
its so far brief existence.
Featuring Ask Vatn Strøm on electric and
acoustic guitars, Eskild Myrvoll on bass,
synths, electric and acoustic guitars, and
Ingvald André Vassbø on drums, percussion, and
organ, they combine instrumental chops, a flair
for melody, and light and shade for an
ever-appealing combo.
Kanaan doesn’t invent anything new in the
genre, but they sure are masterful in what’s
comfortable, tried and true.
Kanaan
loves a good buildup, both individually in their
songs and as the album goes along.
Most of the songs start small and
gradually expand to epic proportion.
Opener “Worlds Together” is the briefest
track on the record, and is a small
introduction. It
serves a roughly similar purpose to The Dark
Side of the Moon’s “Breathe,” and even borrows a
bit from its melody, even if the arrangement is
all fuzzed out instead of the gliding pedal
steel of the former.
The
song gives way to the towering (pun intended)
“Mountain.” Vassbø’s
pounding drums introduce Strøm’s distorted
guitar melody. The
song careens through its twelve minutes between
darkness and light, from heavy guitar rock to
Hawkwind space trip, eventually merging the two.
Nearing the peak of the “Mountain” it’s
an all-out attack, and Strøm’s screaming guitar
takes no prisoners.
“Öresund”
once again starts comparatively light, sort of
fidgeting about awaiting the starting gun.
But once freed from its shackles, it
veers into a groove-laden synth and
guitar-driven prog and space rock epic.
Strøm shreds deliciously with a Leslied
guitar, bolstered by synthy atmospherics.
“Worlds
Apart” fades in mid-jam, with all three
Kanaanites in a full frenzy.
What it lacks in length it makes up in
sheer intensity, as they never let up their foot
from the gas pedal.
This
leads to the two-part finale and title track.
Kanaan are great showmen and they clearly
leave the best for last.
Bjørn Klakegg joins on lead guitar for a
majestic one-two punch suite.
“Double Sun Pt. 1” yet again starts out
small and briefly marks time.
Then comes the inevitable build-up, while
retaining its slow tempo, to an unyielding
display of power and force.
“Double Sun Pt. 2” takes over with one
mighty fine slice of astral motorik groove.
By now, I shouldn’t have to mention the
light touch in the beginning, growing from a
sprout into a monster.
Drummer Vassbø and bassist Myrvoll really
shine on this one, with Strøm and Klakegg at
first toying with us on guitars, and ultimately
vanquishing us in a merciless onslaught.
You’ll be left panting and won’t want it
to end.
On
Double Sun, Kanaan make each track better than
the last, and there’s no fat on the bone.
This is good old eight-ball in the corner
pocket guitar-driven psych, turbo-boosted.
They’re still a young band, with a lot of
superb music ahead of them.
What a hoot it would be to see them live.
Someday.
These guys have it down.
(Mark
Feingold)
|
|
|
Home
|
MONKEYTRIAL
– VIKING
(CD/Digital
from
https://monkeytrial.bandcamp.com)
One of the big casualties of Coronavirus has been live music. At this
time of year that includes the Great British
Festival, by which we tend to mean those
companionably smaller events frequented by a few
hundred like-minded souls. Thankfully there are
releases such as this by MonkeyTrial to savour
and transport us to a field - preferred going:
good to firm - in whichever rural fastness takes
your fancy. Or which at very least involves a
friendly or leastways flexibly entrepreneurial
landowner.
“Monkey Trial” is a phrase which refers to the Scopes Trial (not as in
“Terrascope” we should point out, we have no
claim on Oz-style notoriety) relating to the
case of a school teacher prosecuted for teaching
the Darwinian theory of human evolution in 1920s
Tennessee. In all honesty I’m not sure if that’s
what inspired the name but what is clear is that
they are an enduring fixture, Viking
being their 12th release. Originally
comprising Shaun Bailey (guitars and gizmos) and
Clive Mollart (keys and electronics) the line-up
is currently supplemented by Nick Raybould on
percussion to beef up the sound (vegan options
doubtless available – we’re talking festivals
after all). His recent resume includes
Glowpeople and Delphini both of whom have
garnered a few column centimetres here and who
have been known to coax the weary (and often
emotional) festival punter to shake the dust off
their feet.
Musically Viking simulates an
afternoon festival bumble with one foot in the
chill out tent, the other in the field, coffee
in hand while all the while contemplating
something altogether stronger, and scored by
meditative sonic vistas for landscapes or indeed
alien planets of your choice interspersed with
shorter sonic forays. It’s technically
instrumental fare, not counting the occasional
spoken word narrative courtesy of Pablo
Raybould, Nick’s thespian brother. Now the
digital post-it note which accompanied the
sending of the press pack says simply ‘sounds
good under headphones’ and, in absolute
fairness, it does, although ‘One In Vermillion’,
while scoring a point for punsomeness, sounds a
little conceptual and airbrushed to these old
ears. Otherwise much of Viking
is both quite brooding and uplifting, with
alluring strains of ambient kosmische in that
thar mix, while the palpable influence of Pink
Floyd frequently rears its pointy little head.
‘A Sense Of…’ finds MonkeyTrial at
their most ambient, where Harmonia meets Boards
of Canada and which could arguably be said to be
their acme sound, contrasting with the shorter
and more pugnacious ‘Downfall’ which comes
across as a more digitally constructed ‘Run Like
Hell’. The uplifting funkatronics of
‘Sagarmatha’ act as the propulsion for some late
era Floydian grooves that conspire to bequeath
us a perfectly serviceable Gilmour-like solo
into the bargain. ‘Things With Wings’ may
possibly be a reference to the Wingy Thingy
festival (one of those beloved familial
gatherings that are more bazaar than boutique)
and is altogether darker and more unsettling,
the overall effect not unlike Teeth Of The Sea
but with more rounded edges. The other long ‘un
is ‘Viking At First’, its muted shipping
forecast yielding to soaring guitar melodies and
a perfectly good use of a vivid and expansive
Blakeian canvas. That’s Tim, not William by the
way.
Viking
sounds at once sonically questing and
refreshingly weathered. None of it is
particularly game changing but at least some of
it can make a reasonable claim to being life
affirming, especially ‘A Sense Of’ and
‘Sagarmatha’ which are the very high points here
and would be made to go head to head for
inclusion on the quarterly Terrascope playlist
were we to still feature one. However I know
from conversations with some of you tuning in
here that what one might term ‘festi psych’ is
very much akin to musical marmite, proving that
one person’s poison is another’s meat. Of course
vegan options are always available. In the
circumstances your reviewer’s advice would be to
Hail Seitan and get with this.
Ian
Fraser
|
|
|
Home |
MUMMISE
GUNS – MUMMISE GUNS (LP
on Riot
Season Records)
The
self-titled debut release from Mummise Guns
features an illustrious and indeed industrious
six piece line up comprising members of such
firm family favourites as Part Chimp, Casual
Nun, Luminous Bodies, Black Shape, Pigsx7,
Terminal Cheesecake and Ghold amongst others.
The name goes back to conversations held whilst
hanging around at Supernormal Festival in 2016
and this record is the result of recordings
squeezed in amongst busy schedules since 2017.
It’s a short release clocking just less than
half an hour in length but there’s not a wasted
second in delivering an energetic and diverse
collection of tracks.
‘Flattened
Earth’ kicks things off and is a premium slice
of metallic and grungy Stooge fuelled garage
rock with a dirty riff and barely restrained
vocal that snarls, screams and echoes wildly.
The track moves up several gears towards its end
with a frenzied squall of guitar and vocal
mayhem and as a statement of intent it certainly
grabs the attention. ‘Glitter Balls’ raises the
psychedelic intensity with a murky bassline,
dense heavy beat and more atmospheric guitar
noise behind another roaring, screaming in the
void vocal before Side One concludes with
‘Forever Triggered Forever’ and a head nodding
heavy metal riff and growling bassline over
which a chaotic wall of vocal and guitar
actually bring a strange sense of unhinged
melody not unlike a chainsaw attack on an AC/DC
track.
Side
Two takes off with ‘Bipolar Brain Transmitter’,
another slice of slow and menacing heavy psych
where once again the rasping, sometimes
screaming vocal intertwined with guitar frenzy
adds another dimension to the pounding and
intense riff at its core. ‘Dog Cocked’ is deep
and gloomy with soaring guitars and a low
growling vocal that would give Tom Waits a sore
throat. Finally ‘End of Days’ brings the record
home with a vocal scream that falls between
Black Francis and hardcore punk snarl and a
thrilling rush of guitar soloing that threatens
to bring the house down until its sudden stop.
There’s
very little mercy in this record and it comes at
you full force for all of its short duration.
It’s a raw
and heavy sound yet not without some invention
evident in musical texture, colour and small
details and the record takes the listener on a
ride through heavy psychedelic rock, stoner and
doom filled depths, heavy metal riffs, punk and
garage swagger and attitude and grunge flavoured
melody, often within a single track. There is a
welcome sense of exploration between members of
different bands coming together to produce a
sound they enjoy and yet is a bit different from
the sound of their day job. A recommended burst
of noisy energy to brighten and frighten your
day.
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home |
BLACK
HELIUM – THE WHOLLY OTHER
(LP
on Riot
Season Records)
Black
Helium are a four piece band who, judging by the
Riot Season press release, have impeccable
influences including Amon Dull II, Hawkwind, The
Stooges, The Groundhogs, Spacemen 3 and detuned
Neanderthal rock. ‘The Wholly Other’ is Black
Helium’s second album and was recorded back in
2019 just before a UK tour (Ah, I faintly
remember tours....) with Pigsx7.
As
might be imagined by their cited influences they
have produced a record of exploratory, often
longish tracks that cover a lot of ground.
‘Hippie On A Slab’ is the opening menu item and
a track of two distinct halves. The first
section alternates a choppy riff with walls of
stoner noise and a strong chorus albeit perhaps
a little scary to the average hippy listener
which then breaks out into a brief psychedelic
prog excursion not unlike Rush jamming with Acid
Mothers Temple before returning to the opening
chorus at the end. It’s a strong start and
establishes the diversity and inventiveness of
Black Helium from the off. ‘Two Masters’ has a
grungy sixties garage pop quality where
psychedelia and stoner meet and give us strong
melodic sensibility and little bursts of
instrumental invention and exploration. ‘Death
Station Of The Goddess’ over its ten minutes
conjures up a hallucinogenic stew of Dr John’s
guilded splinters, a hypnotic repeating vocal
chant and a touch of Spiritualised at their most
spacey and soaring best. It’s a real earworm
that gets better with each listen and ends the
first side of the album memorably. ‘One Way
Trip’ introduces the flip side with sampled
sounds, swirling noise and a heavy doom laden
riff dialling up the intensity. ‘Pink Bolt’ is
the album’s longest piece at a little over ten
minutes and once more challenges the listener to
keep up with their sonic trip which takes in
psychedelic sixties style melodies with an air
of mystery, insistent prog metal and blues rock
rhythms and riffs, colours of Krautrock and
occasional waves of crushing doomy stoner rock
chords. It’s another compelling piece of music
that pushes boundaries and elevates this fine
album another notch. Finally ‘Teetering On The
Edge’ is wrapped in atmospheric drums and guitar
with a distant vocal and colours of new wave
psychedelia. It’s dreamy and rather gorgeous
feel is the perfect end to the record.
This
is a wonderful diverse record where all the
aforesaid influences can be heard and enjoyed in
an imaginative and inventive set of songs. Power
and an ear for melody work well together in
these skilled hands and the result is one of the
best psychedelic rock releases this year in my
humble opinion. Highly recommended.
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home |
TARAS
BULBA – SOUL WEAVER (LP
on Riot
Season Records)
Taras
Bulba, the duo of Fred Laird and Jon Blacow
released one of last year’s finest records with
their debut release ‘One’. The album was a real
melting pot of largely instrumental ideas and a
journey through sound across musical styles,
traditions, cultures and continents. Their
second album ‘Soul Weaver’ was completed in the
challenging circumstances and social distancing
restrictions that lockdown brought to bear and
as such it is not the result of traditional
recording sessions. What has been produced
however is another road travelled on the Taras
Bulba adventure and it’s an absolute treat to
hear.
‘Soul
Weaver’ is very much a song based record and
Fred states that his lyrics are influenced,
however subconsciously, by the writings of Dion
Fortune and her novel ‘ The Sea Priestess’. It
is as you might expect a record rich in
atmosphere, imagery and gorgeous musical
arrangements and textures and yes, you can
indeed see and smell the salty sea in all its
moods in many of the songs. The opening track,
‘Fishcat Mother’ has a dramatic widescreen
shoegazey sound and yet a melodic sense with
echoes of the psychedelic era Beatles at its
heart. It’s a stirring sound and a wonderful
opener leading into the hallucinogenic acid folk
stew of ‘The Moon On The Tides’ which sounds
like The Incredible String Band in a stormy sea.
Both mystical and claustrophobic it includes a
swirling Indian infused melody within an intense
and layered psychedelic soundscape of heady
rhythms and atmospheric noise and it is
absolutely wonderful. ‘Goatfoot on Owl Hill’, is
instrumental and opens with ritualistic drums
and an almost tribal folk simplicity around
guitar and flute enveloped in strange freeform
acoustic and electronic sounds. It almost sounds
like a long forgotten field recording from a
remote culture brought to life and has a magical
and mysterious feel. ‘Tethered On The Wheel’ is
an extended trip embracing pastoral psychedelia
and a laid back west coast feel with a warped,
dreamlike vocal and occasional bursts of space
rock guitar and electronic textures to create a
comforting yet strange soundworld that is both
earthbound and celestial. Again it’s a wonderful
and indeed blissful track to lose yourself in
and it builds up to a gorgeous finale of soaring
space guitar and feedback that leaves you
slightly stunned in all the best ways. ‘Sun and
Steel’ is a heavily treated experimental
soundscape that has touches of My Bloody
Valentine in the sound if not the volume and
it’s a dense psychedelic haze of textures, loops
and effects with a strong hallucinogenic
quality. ‘Catch A Falling Star’ at over fourteen
minutes is an epic production which is almost a
suite with distinct movements from the blissful
opening minutes of floating, pulsing kosmische,
leading into gentle acid folk with subtle
electronic undertones and colours before a final
section introducing drums and an almost
symphonic space rock feel and melodic grandeur
over which a soaring guitar solo takes us to the
finish. How do you follow that? Well the final
track ‘The Blistering Of Summer Heat’ doesn’t
try to and instead brings us nicely back to
earth and to a close with a lovely, jaunty and
suitably hazy acid folk song with a frantic
swarm of rattling percussive sound and swelling
choral voices in the middle section before
returning to a calm and satisfying finish.
This
is another wonderful record from Taras Bulba and
is yet again brimming with great songs, sounds
and arrangements that get better and reveal more
depth, beauty and invention with every play.
It’s sad that the 18th Dream of Dr,
Sardonicus Festival in Cardigan, Wales did not
happen last weekend due to the ongoing
restrictions affecting concert events as this
would have been the first time I’d have seen
Taras Bulba play and hopefully perform some of
these songs live. I live in hope for next year
and a live show but until then, I’ll settle for
many more plays of this very fine record which
will undoubtedly be on my end of year highlights
list and I give it my highest recommendation to
pick up a lovely vinyl copy while you can .
(Francis Comyn)
|
|
|
Home
|
JEFF
KELLY – WHEN THE WORLD
WAS YOUNGER
(CD on Green
Monkey)
Following on from his highly-acclaimed
love letter to Spain and Portugal (Beneath
The Stars, Under The River),
Kelly once again visits the Iberian Peninsula
courtesy fresh interpretations of ‘Portugal
[Summer’s Here] (A Memory)’ and ‘The Wishing
Well’ from his 1990 Green Monkey cassette Portugal,
along with updated versions of ‘Autumn In
Lisbon’ from his “Spy Tape” (1997’s The
Rosary and The House Of Jade from Camera
Obscura’s Melancholy
Sun box set), and two alternate
takes/e-singles ‘The Lisbon Vampire’ and ‘Moon
Over Granada’ from the aforementioned previous
album. Add an acoustic version of Kelly’s
tribute to flamenco dancer Cristina Hoyos
(‘Cristina Dancing’, originally released on
2009’s Poison
In The Russian Room), and one of four new
(lockdown) recordings, a loving tribute to the
port-wine emporium ‘Espaco Porto Cruz’ in Vila
Nova de Gaia (Portugal), and you, too will be
ready to pack your bags for a return trip.
The
album opens with the song that Kelly says
characterizes the material herein, ‘Of
Missingness’, one of four e-singles conveniently
gathered together for easier consumption. “This
album is very nostalgic and about ‘missingness’
and of longing for another place and time when
the world was younger….” A distinct
flamenco-style acoustic backing and melody
buttresses a melancholic yearning for that place
“at the end of a rainbow”. Heavy lids and
port-induced tears trickle from Phil Hirschi’s
forlorn cello accompaniment for a powerful, if
not altogether upbeat opening salvo.
‘Black
Eyes’
is the first of four new songs, a sweet sashay
across the gated backyard lawn in the fading
moonlight, protected/isolated from the “horrific
situation” outside in the real world. There’s a
tad more Beatlesque swagger in ‘Juliana of The
One-Man-Scanner Station’, the “flip” of Kelly’s
‘Moon Over Granada’ 2019 digital single. The
revamped ‘Autumn In Lisbon’ eschews its original
drum intro for a funky bass kickoff before
drums, piano and electric guitar elbow aside the
earlier snazzy, jazzy arrangement for this more
upbeat, syncopated take (courtesy Hirschi’s
cello outbursts) on one of The
Rosary and
The House of Jade’s highlight tracks. The
coda also jettisons the original brass
salutations in favour of a descending cello/drum
fadeout to better effect.
Another
new song, ‘If You Go’ soundtracks a stroll
through the back alleys of Faro accompanied by
melancholic accordions, Spanish guitars, and a
Portuguese sunset into the Atlantic, and the
smoky-voiced ‘Only Endless Tomorrows’ harkens
back to Kelly’s love of Leonard Cohen’s
trademark swaying story-songs.
Kelly
and his wife Susanne had scheduled a return
visit to Europe until the virus scuppered their
plans, but these resulting recordings make the
best of a terrible situation and form a perfect
sequel/companion piece to Beneath
The Stars, Under The River without feeling
like a cobbled-together compilation album at
all.
(Jeff Penczak)
|
|
|
Home
|
BUCK
CURRAN – NO LOVE IS SORROW
(LP/Digital
on Obsolete
Recordings)
Well-travelled
psych-folk guitarist Buck Curran, formerly of
the duo Arborea, is a man of the world. Having
previously lived in Ohio, Ireland, Virginia and
Maine, in which he soaked up influences in
writing, playing, and guitar making, he’s called
Bergamo, Italy, home for the past few years.
He’s also a visual artist and luthier, an
expert guitar maker.
His
latest LP No Love is Sorrow is very much an
effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bergamo area was particularly hit
hard earlier in the year by the coronavirus.
Although the album was actually recorded
before the pandemic, it nonetheless is imbued
with the melancholy, isolation and despair so
many have experienced.
It reflects the illness around him, plus
the anxiety caused by the drying up of Curran’s
touring and other sources of revenue with a
small family, including one on the way.
Like many artists have done, Curran moved
up the release of the album.
A
mix of instrumental and vocal tracks, the
overall feel is lonely, overcast and bleak, with
a quiet beauty all its own.
Opening instrumental “Blue Raga” is
exactly what you’d expect from the title, and
from a man who’s put together two Robbie Basho
tribute albums.
“Blue Raga” is both a leadoff and an
outlier, as the Basho and Davey Graham-inspired
raga form, with alternate “DADGAD” guitar
tuning, seems a bit apart from the rest of the
album as it unfolds.
Vocal
track “Ghost on the Hill” is a - yes – haunting
piece about Curran’s former house in Maine, as
well as an apartment Curran and wife Adele once
rented in Bergamo he believes was haunted by a
woman. Curran
adds to the eerie atmosphere with an EBow string
driver, which he uses extensively throughout the
album for soundscaping.
The
nearly eight-minute instrumental title track
layers Curran’s acoustic guitar with slide and
Ebow. Like
much of the album, it’s full of a foreboding
sense of impending doom.
It’s like a spaghetti western epic ballad
mashed together with modern electronic
atmospherics, sending shivers up your spine.
Roughly
alternating between vocal songs and
instrumentals, not all of the songs work as well
for me as the instrumentals.
Tracks like “Deep in the Lovin’ Arms of
My Babe” and “Odissea” don’t stand up well to
repeat listenings, wrought with choruses
repetitive to the point of irritation and
under-performing harmony vocals.
(A little rant here:
the album unfortunately falls prey to the
current fad style of male-female harmony vocals
everyone seems to be using, in which, instead of
using harmony, the singers sing in unison with
an octave of separation.
It’s a bit lazy, whereas working out a
harmony part would sound vastly more pleasing.
It’s worked for centuries.
Rant off.)
The
brief,
beautiful and stark solo guitar instrumental
“Marie” is dedicated to Curran’s grandmother who
passed away this February.
Curran says, “There
is a section where I play this repeating figure
(Hammer-on Pull-offs). That section brings to my
mind the fluttering of dove’s wings. My father
told me that when my grandmother passed
away…doves were perched outside the window and
then they flew off when she died.”
“For
Adele
(Serenade in B Minor)” is another gorgeous,
moody instrumental piece Curran dedicated to his
wife when she was going through a difficult
patch in her life, and is informed by the tone
poems of Debussy, Satie, and others.
The
doom-laden song “One Evening” packs a lot in the
lyrics. Penned
during the runup to the 2016 US presidential
election, it’s a (sadly accurate) warning of
impending storm clouds gathering there, and in
the world. Curran
layers acoustic and electric guitars, plus
effects, to create an altogether darker analogue
to, say, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad
Moon Rising.”
The
experimental chromatic scaled instrumental
“Chromaticle” cleanses the palate for the
powerful, excellently titled “War Behind the
Sun.” The
seven-minute piece returns to the DADGAD raga
tuning, but in a world gone mad.
An all electric guitar nightmare, “War
Behind the Sun” is absolutely stunning, not a
million miles away from Prana Crafter and
Tarotplane. Full
of overdrive, feedback, fuzz guitar and Ebow,
and which Curran says was partially inspired by
Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun.”
The
album closes with another instrumental “Lucia.”
While considered a sister song to opener
“Blue Raga,” Lucia has none of Blue Raga’s
bitter taste, instead incorporating lovely
overdubbed acoustic guitars with just a hint of
atmospherics. Dedicated
to Curran and wife Adele’s expected child,
“Lucia” ends the album with a ray of hope, a bit
of sweetness for the new generation.
No
Love is Sorrow is poignant, affecting, minor-key
melancholic psych-folk from a seasoned expert.
Buck Curran’s playing and compositions
are beautiful and sorrowful for the current
state of the world; his world and ours.
It is at once timeless and very much of
the present.
(Mark
Feingold)
|
|
|
Home
|
TRAPPIST
AFTERLAND - SEASIDE
GHOST TALES
(LP
on Sunstone Records
)
The
highly prolific Adam Cole returns with a new
double album on the Sunstone record label, due
to be released in the very near future. I think
that this could be his best yet; again it is
informed by plenty of gnostic God-bothering
songs.
The
album opens with a bucolic, Indian inflected
psych folk song entitled ‘Serpent’s Isle’ a soft
lazily spun tale of a mystic Isle, acoustic with
light percussion and a false ending, a terrific
opening song which ushers in part one of ‘The
Calling Of The Quarters’ narrated by Alan
Davidson of The Kitchen Cynics, over a dense and
clattering mess of chants and instrumentation.
This leads nicely into ‘Paperboat’ a cyclical
acoustic tune emerges and is soon engulfed from
in a fog of mellotron, it’s a tale of devotion
and love. The first side ends with his reading
of the traditional song ‘The Unquiet Grave’,
almost a duet, on which he is joined by Kathleen
Yearwood.
Side
two begins with ‘Death Becomes Gold’ a lone
lilting flailing banjo is joined by a mesmeric
host of instruments, creating a song in the
round which tells of death and rebirth, oh and
sky children. ‘Allegory Of Stars’ follows,
sending forth darting fireflies of sitar,
underpinned by gentle percussion and lightly
marshalled drumming, plus a whole host of
various acoustic instruments, it sees Adam
double track his vocals for the chorus. ‘Golden
Neighbourhood’/ ‘The Closing Of The Quarters’.
Adam counts his blessings, extolling the joy of
community, nature and life before part two of
‘Quarters’ which is again narrated by the
Scottish burr of Alan Davidson. ’Calvary
Hill/Kiama’ closes out side two an acoustic
reverie, infested with drones and waspish
backward guitar parts; it deals with death and
rebirth.
Side
three opens with ‘Twelve Sparrows (In The
Infancy Of God)’ ghostly mellotron, acoustic and
electric guitars spin around each other creating
a wonderful bedrock for Adam’s wonder at the man
who bent time and moved the mountains with his
words. I love this song, it makes me want to
delve deeper into the wonder of it all. It leads
into ‘The Man Who Bended Time’ a rootless man
with pious thoughts, a contemplation of wisdom.
A first rate cyclical tune, again delivered with
acoustic guitar and mellotron to the fore. It
sorts the wheat from the chaff dealing with
miracles, death and rebirth. ‘Travellers In The
Mind Of God’, questions our physicality in the
cosmos, a pretty tune with keyboards and
acoustic instrumentation. This sublime side ends
with ‘Godbothering Part 4’ plenty of electric
guitar, mellotron and wooden flute entwine with
Adam’s acoustic guitar and voice.
Side
four begins with the short song ‘How Ricky Got
His Wings’ a contemplation of death and rebirth,
of travelling using your mind. ‘Last Trip To The
Sun’ again sees Adam playing electric guitar,
sitar and woodwind. ‘Sacred Geometry’ delivered
with minimal instrumentation looks to the
firmament and all of its wonder. This excellent
album ends with ‘God Is a Black Dog’ all the
usual tropes firmly in place, voices, various
instruments including flute, percussion,
harmonium and Tanpura drones. As Adam sings “God
is my black dog, waiting for me”, let us hope he
waits a good while longer!
(Andrew
Young
|
|
|
Home |
IAN
A ANDERSON – ONWARDS! VOL
2 - A CROWN OF CROWS
(Ghosts
From The Basement
www.ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com )
Ian
has used the period of lockdown to revisit some
of his classic recordings from his long out of
print albums put out in the late sixties and
seventies on his own Village Thing label amongst
other projects and radio sessions. He was due to
play a few gigs to celebrate fifty years of
playing, writing and recording. The first volume
was released last year to high acclaim,
especially by us here at Terrascope and this
second volume is just as strong, featuring a lot
of songs unavailable elsewhere.
The
album starts with a song entitled ‘Another
Normal Day’ in which a lot of misfortunes are
listed with the refrain “You Can’t Win Them
All”, this is followed by the harmonica infested
‘Stereo Death Breakdown’. ‘The Sky’ follows and
is performed by False Beards Ian on guitar and
vocals and Ben Mandelson on baritone bouzouki.
‘The Bonnie Light Horseman’ is from his Hot
Vultures project with Maggie Holland and this is
the first time that it has made an appearance on
CD. ‘City Jail Blues’ a strident blues from his
Appaloosa album Continuous Preaching Blues with
searing electric slide guitar played by Ian.
‘Shining Grey’ is taken from the 1970
Royal York Crescent LP and rendered on acoustic
guitar and bongos, another first time on CD
song. ‘Crazy Fool Mumble’ is a live recording
that was put out in 2002 on his Waterloo Street
Revisited album which was put out on an
extremely limited private release so this could
well be the first time that even Ian’s long term
fans will get the chance to hear it, it also
features Al Jones and Elliot Jackson and dates
from the early seventies I believe.
Ian’s
humorous ‘The Panic Is On’ follows and is taken
from his English Country Blues Band outfit. A
remixed instrumental False Beards tune ‘The
False Bridetune’ is up next, originally from the
Ankle album. There follows a brand new
unreleased tune ‘(The Return Of) The Westward
Wind’ rendered solo on slide guitar, guitar and
voice joined at the end by some vociferous
crows. ‘Write Me A Few Of Your Lines’, is
another Hot Vultures song from a 1980 radio
session and again unreleased until now. A great
tune from his 2017 Deathfolk Blues Revisited
project ‘Pretty Peggy- O’ is delivered solo and
is again unreleased until now. ‘Silent Night
No2’ is from a Hot Vultures 1974 radio session
and another song available here for the first
time.
An
album that has eluded me so far is Ian’s 1969
Book Of Changes LP on Village Thing, so it’s
nice to have a song from it included here, the
purely instrumental and playful ‘Mouse Hunt’.
‘We’ve Got Hard Times Now’ an extremely
danceable song from his English Country Blues
Band follows this in fine style, then it’s back
to another song from Book Of Changes album
‘Internal Combustion Rag’ delivered solo and
again the first time it has been released on CD.
‘Hello Stranger Blues’ from Hot Vultures has
long been a favourite song, a song I first heard
on the excellent Flatlanders debut album and
sounds great here with fiddle and slide guitar.
Ian’s recently written ‘Black Crow’ performed
solo with guitar sees its first release. Another
of Ian’s groups feature on ‘South Coast Bound’,
the Blue Blokes 3 who released the Stubble album
from which this is taken, and so to the final
song ‘Paper And Smoke’ an excellent song taken
from his 1972 album Singer Sleeps On As Blaze
Rages. This sees Mike Cooper on lap slide, Bill
Boazman with swirly Leslied electric guitar and
again sees its first appearance on CD. This is a
wonderful compilation and the perfect companion
to the equally strong volume one.
(Andrew Young)
|
|
|
Home
|
ROSE
CITY BAND - SUMMERLONG
(LP
on Thrill Jockey)
As
the title suggests, the music contained within
Rose City Band’s latest record is the perfect
summer soundtrack. In fact, there’s
so much warmth and sunshine packed into this LP,
you can experience a healthy dose of the season
no matter what time of the year you’ve got it on the turntable.
Throughout
the record’s eight songs, melty pedal steel
guitars coast under Ripley Johnson’s velvety
vocals and softly reverberating country-flavored
solos. Meanwhile, the rhythms of each tune chug
along like a truck rumbling down an empty
freeway, allowing for the band to jam as freely
as possible.
A
wide plethora of stoned Americana music is
explored widely on Summerlong. Shades of
Workingman’s Dead shine through on songs
like “Real Long Gone” and “Only Lonely,” while Time
Out of Mind-era Dylan vibes emerge on
“Floating Out” and the spirit of Relatively
Clean Rivers appears to be present at all times.
While
you may not be able to take a real vacation this
summer, let the sunny grooves of Rose City Band
take you on a road trip in your mind.
(Keith
Hadad)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|