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March 2024 = |
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the Hanging
Stars
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Sean Ono Lennon
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Anton Barbeau
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the Pat Smythe
Quartet
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Mushroom
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Men from
SPECTRE
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Dodson and
Fogg
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THE
HANGING STARS – ON A GOLDEN SHORE
(
LP/CD/DL from Loose Records
www.thehangingstars.bandcamp.com
)
On
A
Golden Shore is due to be released in
March but is available to pre- order now
and I can report that it is a peach of an
album. The band consists of Richard Olson
on guitar and vocals, Paulie Cobra on the
drums, Patrick Ralla guitars and
keyboards, Paul Milne on bass and Joe
Harvey-Whyte on pedal steel guitar. The
album saw the band (sans Joe) travel up to
Scotland to Edwyn Collins Clashnarrow
studio at Helmsdale, up on the north-east
coast, without any of their instruments,
but with a few ideas which they then
proceeded to transform into the songs on
this album, Joe then added his parts later
on at his London studio, It has been
produced by Sean Read, he has also
previously worked with the band.
The
Hanging
Stars have been playing regularly up and
down the country over the last few years
this has resulted in a tight knight group
of intuitive musicians who are obviously
happy in each other’s company, this set of
songs came very quickly for them and they
will be doing another tour in support of
the album, I for one can’t wait to see
them in action again, they excel in the
live environment and put on a damn good
show.
The
album
opens with a ‘Let Me Dream Of You’ a
loose, groovy, choogler of a song which
features slide guitar and a fine,
contained solo from Patrick. This is
followed by ‘Sweet Light’, a soufflé light
hazy song imbued with a keening melody and
tight harmonies. ‘Happiness Is A Bird’, is
one of my favourites from the album, an
interesting song that joins the dots
between very English bands like The
Clientele and Mojave 3 and the Grateful
Dead, it even has a light wah-wah electric
guitar ala Jerry on his ‘Cats Under The
Stars’, the song ends with a ride which
for me could have carried on longer and
probably will do when played live,
superlative stuff.
This
then
leads onto another great song; they just
keep on coming, the terrific
‘Disbelieving’, Joe playing some exquisite
pedal steel. ‘Washing Line’, features some
electric piano and then it is into the
title track ‘Golden Shore’ which sees
Circlulus’s woodwind player Will Summers
adding pan pipes and drummer Paulie
playing funky bongos, a keep the home
fires burning song of longing that drifts
along quite languidly. ‘Silver Rings’ is
another favourite, almost progressive rock
in its composition, it feels so summery
with Latin accents from the percussion and
again has a kind of Dead like vibe,
gossamer light with spidery guitars and a
lovely piano motif.
‘I
Need A Good Day’ is up next, a throw the
curtains wide song with a open jangly
sound that’s pure Hanging Stars. Lilting
banjo sets the scene for the following ‘No
Way Spell’, it is more acoustic in nature
with some excellent acoustic guitar fills,
terrific steel and again those excellent
harmonies. ‘Raindrop In A Hurricane’
appears next, a gentle and sad reflective
folk song, dreaming of a warm place where
the Lemon trees grow, it also features
what I believe maybe a crumhorn and more
pan pipes from Will.
The album ends with another
favourite ‘Heart In A Box’, a crumbling,
mariachi inflected song with some nice
lightly fuzzed steel. On A Golden Shore is
one of the best albums they have produced;
it sees the band going from strength to
strength, highly recommended.
(Andrew
Young)
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SEAN
ONO LENNON - ASTERISMS
(LP,
CD, Digital on Tzadik
Records)
Lennon’s
never
been one to sit still within one genre.
From the psychedelia of Ghost of a Saber
Tooth Tiger to the prog-psych of his Claypool
Lennon Delirium offerings, if there’s a single
thing bonding his works, it’s his use of melody
and a vivid imagination (whoops, that’s two
things). On
the superb Asterisms, Lennon abandons
vocals and lyrics altogether for an instrumental
record that encompasses jazz, spacey electronics
and rock, where the whole is far greater than the
sum of the parts.
As
you might expect, he’s assembled a crack team of
musicians including, besides himself on guitar and
mini-moog, Ches Smith and Johnny Mathar (drums),
Devin Hoff (bass), João Nogueira (Wurlitzer),
Mauro Refosco (percussion), Michael Leonhart
(trumpet), and Yuka Honda (electronics).
If I’m being honest, the sound tends to
lean more towards jazz fusion than an even
distribution of the above genres or throwing them
in a blender. Still,
the five tracks are very different from one
another while managing to retain the overall feel
of the project. It
just works.
My
favorite
track is the opener “Starwater,” which is sort of
like Mahavishnu Orchestra launching – nay,
floating away - into space.
I read somewhere that Wilco’s Nels Cline
encouraged Lennon to play his guitar more, but
haven’t been able to verify that.
Lennon’s not a shredding monster, which he
has said stressed him out playing with Les
Claypool, who demands uncompromising virtuosity
from his players.
But what he lacks in pyrotechnics he surely
makes up for in feel.
The John McLaughlin-esque tone and his
lyricism makes you just want to hear more.
I
must be careful not to automatically compare
anything jazzy with a trumpet and electric guitar
to Miles Davis, but there is some bitchin’
brewing going on with “Thinking of M” and
“Acidalia.” And
at eleven minutes, the title track is the album’s
longest, and it’s stunning.
Lennon conjures up all his wizardly powers
of spell casting, full of cosmic mystery, complex
time signatures, fine muted trumpet and electric
piano, and the return of Lennon’s soulful guitar,
tones and weird effects in a wobbly and woozy
psychedelic outro.
Very Lennon – Sean, that is.
The missus walked in while I was listening
to that latter part and asked, “are you watching a
scary movie?” So
you know it’s good.
It
took me a minute to realize what Lennon was doing
with closer “Heliopause.”
When Voyager 1 left the heliosphere on its
way out of the solar system and into the
interstellar medium, nobody knew what would happen
to the spacecraft.
Lennon concocts the track with a mystifying
touch, and a sense of tentative steps forward
filled with trepidation, and finally a psychedelic
fizzing before vanishing into the mist.
Love it.
Reportedly
a
couple of years in the making with some
pandemic-induced stops and starts, Asterisms
was well worth the wait.
Lennon’s got a full plate these days,
caring for his Mom, tending to his parents’
musical legacy, and making his own music.
But he continues to grow as an artist, even
at 48. His
releases always cross some new territory, full of
inventiveness and curiosity.
Asterisms is a fine sojourn in his
wanderings, and doubtless he’ll cross more
boundaries at the next signpost.
(Mark
Feingold)
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ANTON
BARBEAU -
MORGENMUSIK/NACHTSCHLAGER
Available
on Think
Like A Key
Musical
wunderkind Barbeau delivers this
doppelgänger set vaguely tiptoeing through
Berlin’s day (morgen) and night (nacht) life.
Writing progressed through repeated trips back
and forth between Berlin and California (I’ll
let you guess which was morning and which
surveyed the night life!) with the double disk
set eventually recorded by over two dozen
musicians, singers, speakers, yodelers, and
yelpers in various studios and homes across
three continents aided and abetted no doubt by
unknown quantities of [sch]lager! Thus emerged a
veritable Cabaret
for the 21st century, the plot
thickened into a hazy goo somewhere along the
way with the album affectionately
Siamese-twinned into Morgenschlager
somewhere over the rainbow and across the
Atlantic. There were even plans for a third disc
of quiet, folky tunes that went fahren,
fahren,
fahren auf der autobahn and a selection of
groovy remixes may someday see the light of
morgen…or nacht.
What remains was performed by Barbeau
and over two dozen friends, musicians, past and
present (and possibly future) bandmates, and
relatives including Rosie Abbott, The Red
Curtain from XTC, Bryan Poole from Terrastock
performers Elf Power, Peter Daltrey from
Kaleidoscope, Julian Cope collaborator Donald
Ross Skinner, dB Chris Stamey, American Civil
War expert Larry Tagg and his Bourgeois Tagg
rhythm section partner, drummer Michael Urbano,
and members of The Luck Of Eden Hall, Barbeau’s
trio Three Minute Tease with Andy Metcalfe and
Morris Windsor from The Soft Boys and Robyn
Hitchcock’s Egyptians, and the ever popular “She
who cannot be named for stealthy legal reasons”
but who you may recognize by her Hindi voice.
The point of rattling off this cast of dozens is
to emphasize the collaborative effort, not to
mention the great expense, frequent flyer miles,
and possibly unlimited quantities of [sch]lager
that came together to create this hoot ‘n’
nanny…
…which begins with Ant, Rosie,
Metcalfe, Skinner, Stamey, and Red Curtain
supergrouping their way through ‘Waiting On The
Radio’, a Laurel Canyonesque mellow vibefest
that everyone can relate to - waiting to hear a
favourite song on the wireless. The ghost of Mr.
Bowie is also near to hand in Ant’s delivery,
supplemented by Stamey’s “ghost harmonies.”
Urbano’s powerful drumming and Metcalfe’s
throbbing bass punctuates the fodderstomping
‘Bop,’ which leads us into the proggy “Milk
Suite” comprised of an enigmatic ‘Milksnake’,
Kinkini Deb’s haunting call to prayer ‘Maa’,
some Parliament-styled funky disco bodyswerving
to the ‘Mothership Projection’ (complete
with sly Dylanesque lyrical reference), and a
cautionary toetapper ‘Gambit’ featuring an
eagerly anticipated Three Minute Tease reunion.
This being an Anton Barbeau joint
(sorry, Mr. Lee), there’re not one, but two
suites, so toote
de suite we slide into the three-part
“Clean Suite” which opens with ‘Greasy’
(naturally!). It’s easy, sleazy, and quite
breezy, with Charlotte Tupman’s screaming
guitars an added highlight. A short commercial
break (a la The
Who Sell Out?) to pitch ‘Blacklight
Clean’, and we dry off after a dip in the
bathtub and we’re all ‘Coming Clean.’
There’s no way to get ‘Sympathy For The
Devil’ out of your head once ‘Dog Go Zombie’
enters the fray, but the cha-cha-cha shuffle
carries you through and ‘I Demand A Dream’
paints some sunny cellophane skies and marmalade
pies with lysergic lyrics and Peter Daltrey’s
kaleidoscopic narration for a psychedelic
journey to the center of your mind’s eye.
There’s some nice fuzzy wuzzy guitar and
Ziggy-esque narration on the glitter and glitzy
‘Circustime Train’ to end disc one on a high
note.
Turning now to eine kleine Nachstschlager
(“the sound of heaving”), we might expect a
darker listening experience, but opening salvo,
the motorific krautrockin’ ‘Chrono Optik’ could
set Donna Summer’s heart a-flutter and
‘Beautiful Look’ is insanely infectious. I’m not
quite sure how Lindsay Buckingham fits into
‘Dumb Thumping’ but freaking out on ‘Granny’s
Gummy Crumpets’ may help that bash and get you
ready for birthday celebrations courtesy the
‘Ding Dong (Wake Up)’ call.
Easter eggs a-plenty populate Ant’s
lyrics (‘Ganja On The Farm’) and make for a neat
drinking game - take a shot every time you
correctly identify a song (e.g., listen closely
for Trio’s ‘Da Da Da’, a possible nod to Wizz
Jones in ‘Colin’s [Moulding] Onion’ (?), et.al.)
and I enjoyed the pseudo-FM DJ drop ins
(‘KANT-FM’ - get it?) and more Sell
Out adverts that create that olde tyme
radio- listening experience. They got me digging
out Country Joe’s ‘Acid Commercial’ to relive
the experience!
So pull up a chair, put up your feet,
pour yourself some refreshment, roll up some
ganja from the farm, and ‘Help Yourself To A
Biscuit’ (B.A.D. reference?)
- DJ Ant & Co. have a pleasant
listening experience in store for you.
Jeff
Penczak
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PAT
SMYTHE QUARTET – NEW DAWN:
LIVE 1973
(CD,
Digital
on British
Progressive
Jazz)
This
is a sparkling recording, capturing the Pat
Smythe Quartet during a couple of gigs in France
in the summer of 1973.
While bandleader and keyboardist Smythe
spreads the wealth and the solos around, the
recording is a showcase for the brilliant
electric guitar playing of Allan Holdsworth, who
needs no introduction here.
It’s
jazz
fusion, but the economy of the lineup (Pat
Smythe, piano, Fender Rhodes; Holdsworth,
guitar; John Marshall, drums; Daryl Runswick
(double bass) thrusts Holdsworth’s role as lead
guitarist into the spotlight much more than
later years in the decade that would see typical
fusion bands often balloon to seven or eight
members or more, including multiple horn players
and percussionists.
There’s nary a horn in sight here.
The
venerable
Smythe, by now a veteran on the scene, had
already had quite an accomplished career, having
been a World War 2 RAF fighter pilot,
Oxford-educated solicitor, and of course, jazz
musician and band leader.
Smythe shows precisely zero ego here, for
the most part letting the other musicians shine,
especially Holdsworth.
In fact, despite having written the
lion’s share of the tracks and obviously having
expert keyboard chops, Smythe seems to play
fewer solos than even Runswick on bass and
Marshall on drums.
That’s probably not accurate; but he’s
not flashy, and is a generous and egalitarian
leader.
Tracks
like
Smythe’s “Village Greene” and Holdsworth’s
“Floppy Hat” show Holdsworth at his best.
His playing is fast and fluid, and his
tone has just enough distortion to give it some
bite. “Waiting
for the Walrus” goes slightly avant, displaying
another side these folks had shown in other
bands, such as Smythe with Joe Harriott and
Holdsworth in Soft Machine.
On Smythe’s title track and Smythe and
Holdsworth’s “British Rail,” Smythe finally lets
his piano and Fender Rhodes do some talking,
while always yielding to Holdsworth’s roller
coaster ride up and down his fretboard.
Tracks like “British Rail” can lead one
to imagine what those larger fusion aggregates
would’ve done to it with all those synths, horns
and conga players thrown in, before you realize
this small, intimate quartet nails it perfectly
as is.
Sound
quality
is uniformly excellent, though Smythe’s Rhodes
is slightly overdriven in some small parts.
And you’ve got to give Holdsworth some
breaks, but whether one wants to hear bass solos
on all eight tracks is listener preference.
Despite having been officially released
just days ago, the album is already the fastest
selling record in British Progressive Jazz’s
still brief history.
That’s with good reason.
I would hope an LP version (it would have
to be a double-LP) is in the works, to
complement the CD version out now.
New Dawn:
Live 1973 is essential listening to
anyone who digs understated but still dazzling
fusion, especially Allan Holdsworth’s luminous
guitar mastery.
(Mark
Feingold)
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MUSHROOM
-
MESSAGES FROM THE SPLIFF BUNKER
(Available
on Heyday
Again)
Pat
Thomas and his revolving band of musical
pranksters return after a nearly 15-year
absence with their 15th studio
album comprising their first recordings since
the COVID lockdown. The current sextet
includes three drummers, long serving bassist
Ned Doherty and keyboardist/producer
Matt Cunitz, with Paul Hoaglin joining
on guitar and frequent flyer Erik Pearson
contributing his typically spacey and jazzy
flute and sax embellishments. Toss in some
Vibraharps, gongs, Likembe, and clavinet,
season lightly with seasonal Sleigh Bells,
call to order with occasional Prayer Bells and
you have yourself another heady stew courtesy
our favourite musicologists who bang, pluck,
pound and tinkle things that make groovy
noises. And of course there’re those song
titles that only some crazy dudes with
enormous record collections could love which
start with Steppenwolf references, tell us
where (presumably) drummer Mark Weinstein (he
of art rockers MX-80 Sound, O-Type, and Can
vocalist Malcolm Mooney’s comeback project)
can be found, and what happens when former
Camper Van Beethoven/ Mushroom guitarist
Victor Krummenacher throws the gauntlet down
at the feet of Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna
string-stroker Jorma Kaukonen. All this and
more in seven tracks across four sides of
glorious vinyl clocking in at nearly 75
minutes. So let’s hunker down in the bunker
and see what’s skinning away.
We begin with that blast of heavy
metal thunder from Steppenwolf ‘Looking For
Adventure’ and what comes your way is a
groovefest of organ grinding, skin pounding
and booty shaking in a Booker T mould. Bass
throbs, heads nod, toes tap, and smiles ensue.
As with many improvisational jams, things just
tend to drift off when the participants have
taken the songs as far as they can go without
deteriorating into needless repetition, so
they decide to call time with I think is a
neat little excerpt from the Deviants ‘Billy
The Monster.’
‘One Ton Anvil’ is a little more
hesitant - like Can finding their way in the
dark or Six Musicians In Search Of A Groove.
Eventually keyboards gurgle in the general
direction of a tune which Pearson picks up on
flute and flutters around clashing cymbals and
meandering organ until, like feathers in a
hurricane, everything drifts away. Pearson’s
sax drives ‘I’m OK, You’re Not OK’ through
beeping car horn-like utterances and a
call-and-response sax/organ bop-off that King
Crimson fans won’t find disagreeable. The
fadeout suggests there’s more on the floor for
another day.
The next track has a message for the
listener - ‘Don’t Hate Me Because I’m
Beautiful’ and, indeed, it is. The spliffs and
drums are kicking in, the organ is laying down
a smooth vibe, guitar notes are sprinkled
about and the listener is rocking back and
forth, going nowhere and everywhere at once
and having a damn fine time getting there.
The second album covers nearly 40
minutes across three songs, including the
sidelong answer to the question on everyone’s
lips, “Where The Hell Is Mark (And Did He Pick
Up Those Funny Sunglasses And Gnarly Thrash
Boots)” (reference to be revealed later in the
review!}: ‘Mark Moved To Buffalo.’ One could
be unkind and say it probably took less time
to get there than it takes the song to make
its appointed rounds, but that would be only
partially true. There’s a lot you can do in 18
minutes, so taking it slow and easy is a good
approach. Kind of like Bardo Pond and Roy
Montgomery in their Hash Jar Tempo phase,
there’s a lot of “let’s try this and see where
it takes us” going on, so the momentum ebbs
and flows according the each participant’s
head space, but that’s a good thing because it
allows each member to take a little solo and
see if the rest will hop onboard. For the most
part, they do, so this is not the shambles
that “We’ve got 18 minutes, whaddya wanna do?”
can deteriorate into. The three drum setup
comes at you from all angles, with peak-ins
from Hoaglin and Cunitz to pull everybody back
to Earth.
The coffee break midway where
everything changes direction and almost comes
to a grinding halt before charting course into
what feels like a completely different “song”
seems spliced in, so this may have actually
gone on for a few days before they ran out of
tape. It’s a little jarring, but eventually
your mind replots the GPS and you kinda forget
where you were at before you were so rudely
interrupted. But, hey, it’s cool man, I just
hope Mark got there safely. Remember Mark?
This song is about where he relocated!
If you’re not too spliffed out to get
up and turn the record over, you can
contemplate the metaphysical philosophical
implications of ‘In Dreams Begin
Responsibilities.’ A sort of “look before you
leap” mantra copped from some old camp horror
movie: “don’t dream it, be it”. A little
marching riff tumbles across the cymbals
before Pearson blows some smooth, dreamy sax
riffs across the room at Cunitz’s gurgling
organ and the rest of the party puts down the
spliffs and picks up the groove. The three
drummers shine (presumably Mark came back from
Buffalo for the session!), which is not very
easy unless you’re all on the same page and
don’t start tripping over each other (in both
senses of the word!) trying to take the track
in different directions than your mates want
to go.
Which leads us to the concluding
smackdown: ‘Victor Krummenacher vs. Jorma
Kaukonen.’ Not sure what to make of that
(presumably another inside joke the band are
wont to turn into song titles like ‘Blues For
An Airplane’), but it’s another smokey, jazzy
Pearson sax run with a bit of a
Thirties-in-Paris vibe circling around some
Dead-like 6-armed drumming, random string
plucking from Hoaglin, and Cunitz at his
multitasking best coaxing all kinds of weird
sounds out of numerous multi-coloured
keyboards. Toss in a few science fiction
soundtrack-y earpiercings, dinosaur
screechings, and spacey fx, and then try to
imagine what Camper Van Beethoven might sound
like jamming with the Airplane and Hot Tuna
and I guess you’re sorta there. I guess? Oh,
and don’t forget the bells! And prayers!!
Whether spliced together from various
jams or edited down from one long enlightened
session, the album should best be experienced
as one long, seamless flow rather than
DJ-hopping ahead to a favourite track/section.
There’re only seven of them anyway. So knock
three times on the bunker door, say the secret
password (hint: what Oscar-winning actor was
immortalized in a Mushroom song?) and roll up
for the mystery tour through the musical minds
of Mushroom.
(Jeff
Penczak)
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MEN
FROM S.P.E.C.T.R.E. – MAGNETIC SUNSHINE
(LP,
CD, Digital on Library
of the Occult Records)
Swiss
cinematic
funk merchants Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
return, bringing grooves aplenty with their
latest dastardly gem Magnetic Sunshine.
Theirs is a deadly assault of Hammond
organs, wah-wah and fuzz guitars galore, and
massive percussion featuring drums and
bongos. This
album doesn’t let up for a minute.
If this were a soundtrack from an
actual movie, it would be a film overloaded
with bad guy, go-go club and car chase
scenes.
Men
From
S.P.E.C.T.R.E. are Mario Janser (organ),
Gerry Germann (guitar), Rolf Keller (bass),
Stefan Saurer (drums), and Robert Ebler
(percussion). If
you’re a fan of the Incredible Bongo Band’s
Bongo Rock (and who wouldn’t be?) or
Calibro 35 at their bounciest, you’ll love
this. It’s
like those acts, but where every track has a
sinister bent.
Now there are tracks – or portions of
tracks at least – that aren’t all dance
shakers, as where some goon is planting a
bomb under a car or a beautiful naughty lady
is slipping poison in a martini, but the Men
From You-Know-Where always eventually get
down to you getting down.
Opener
“Eat
Fire” is arguably the swingingest track on
the record, though competition is fierce.
Tracks like “La Séance” and
“Enceladus” weave mysterious sounding
synths, theremins and flutes around, while
the underlying wicked groove sets the pulse.
Men
From
S.P.E.C.T.R.E. have been at it since 1997,
and this is album number five.
The cover artwork by Jordan Warren is
splendid, and you would expect nothing less
from Library of the Occult.
Vinyl comes in Ice Blue, and “Solar
Wind” (that’s orange to you and me).
Magnetic Sunshine is
spectacular fun.
Here’s one spy thriller where the bad
guys come out on top.
(Mark
Feingold)
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DODSON
AND
FOGG
MOVEMENT
IN
THE EXTERIOR WORLD (2023)
MUSIC
FOR
STRANGE AND MYSTERIOUS STORIES (2024)
(Available
through Wisdom
Twins)
Chris
Wade (aka Dodson and Fogg)’s prolific
run of releases continues, bringing his
discography over an impressive 40
releases over the last decade!
“Movement…” may be the first album
dedicated to a pet fish - Gill who died
during the recordings.
The title track is a rough and
tumble bluesy swagger and along with
‘Getting Lost In The Street’ features a
blistering solo that may be Wade’s most
demonstrative display of fancy fretwork
yet.
‘On The Bus’ smooths out the
raging rock of its predecessors with a
soft ballad a la the Replacements’ ‘Kiss
Me On The Bus’ (or maybe the title put
the two songs together in my mind!)
‘The Birds’ is one of my
favourite Dodson And Fogg tracks to date
- an evocative acoustic instrumental
perfect for navel gazing or cloud
staring or simply watching the little
creatures flit and fly around your
backyard or on a favourite nature walk.
‘Of That Contradictory Age’ is one of
Wade’s poems, a nice bookmark to
separate the musical interludes, or
viceversa!
‘My Home’ is another dreamy
contemplation on Chris’s place in the
world - what do YOU think about when you
sit quietly in your home and look around
at all the things you’ve populated it
with and the history behind those
purchases? We end on another dreamy
thousand yard stare, ‘Looking Through
The Glass’ which has a Traffic-styled
“back to the country” vibe to it and
perfectly encapsulates the melancholy
that permeates the album.
Music For Strange And
Mysterious Stories
is exactly what it says on the tin - a
soundtrack of sorts designed to
accompany his latest collection of short
stories - think of a KPM or DeWolfe
library album to be enjoyed while
reading stories instead of watching a
film or show on the telly. ‘The Death Of
Arthur Kind’ has a roman à clef air
about it (and that’s all I’ll say) and
the meandering, ruminative
electric/acoustic guitar interplay feeds
off the ominous element of surprise
awaiting us as we turn each page. ‘The
Rat Faced Man’ is more frantic, with
ferocious solos dragging us deeper into
the lair of the eponymous character. The
music races by like a chase scene
through quicksand, the harder we
struggle the deeper we’re dragged in and
there’s a bit of curiosity killing a cat
lurking within.
‘Roger’s Place’ is haunted by
COVID-induced agoraphobia and Wade’s
hesitant guitar lines stalk into the
room like a hunter sizing up his prey.
The twist in the storyline caught me
off-guard as did the accompanying switch
from screaming solo to stalking,
dripping terror as we discover the real
reason our hero’s been staying inside
all this time. And pay close attention
to the story’s prologue. It’ll come in
handy later on!
The final tale, ‘The Long Black
Coat’ begins with the death of Wade’s
pet fish Gill. Other autobiographical
hints pop in as well as a claustrophobic
feeling of dread, confusion, and
reluctant acceptance. Wade has chosen a
soft piano piece to accompany the tale,
which eventually develops a classical
air. As the story enters an
hallucinogenic dream phase, the song
glides into a playful, yet ominous
almost stalking melody. Suddenly,
there’s a fast-paced “chase scene” motif
as our hero attempts to unravel the
mysterious figure he meets in a park.
The conclusion may
keep you guessing for a while and
the track fizzles out in a puff of foggy
smoke.
(Jeff
Penczak)
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