1976 and 1977 were all about punk as any documentary maker knows, yet where did I first hear this album?
Was it Prog Time with Greg Lake?
Or Acker Bilk's Jazz Club?
No, in 1977, John Peel was still playing odd jazz prog stuff, alongside the more interesting punk and new wave, and it was on his show I first heard it.
I didn't ever see the album until many years later, in the Indoor Market in Canterbury, where a bloke called Dave ran a stall, selling LPs, CDs, with a particularly fine Canterbury selection, which is where I bought this CD. Allegedly Hugh Hopper himself occasionally helped out, but I don't recall ever seeing him there.
The opening title track has a fairly leaden fuzz bass riff, over which Dave Stewart on keyboards and Gary Windo on sax and clarinet do some pleasant noodling. Miniluv is a short version of a riff from a much longer song of the same name from Hopper's 1984 album, and again, Windo's sax carries this over a simple bass riff.
Gnat Prong is the longest track on the album, and for me the high point. Hopper's mad guitar playing, alternating with Stewart's keyboards (with perhaps a little recycling of a Hatfield and the North theme?), separated by a powerful bridge, are fantastic - although the final three is quite a disappointing run out.
The Lonely Sea And The Sky is a lovely, gentle sax and guitar piece, featuring Elton Dean, unusually relaxing for him! Crumble is a pleasant, lively electric piano piece, while Lonely Woman, the only cover (Ornette Coleman) on the album is much slower, featuring three horns/saxes over Hopper's sound effects, interesting, but not very exciting or listenable. Mobile Mobile is another plodder, going nowhere quite slowly, then Spanish Knee, with a fantastic bassline, and some interesting wind and guitar work and finally, the solo Oyster Perpetual wanders off into the distance, without any sense of climax.
After his work with Soft Machine and Isotope, there's lots to like on this album, but some of it does meander a little.
3* - not the easiest album to love, but it does repay a careful listen.
Comments