Peter Blegvad & Andy Partridge – Orpheus (The Lowdown) (2003)

It's always interesting to hear a collaboration between two artists that you've enjoyed in completely different contexts. Peter Blegvad is an Anglo-American songwriter whom I first encountered with Slapp Happy, in their way-out collaboration with Henry Cow, Desperate Straights, one of my favourite albums when at school.

Andy Partridge was, of course, one of the driving forces behind XTC, and their main songwriter, and I've written much of my love for XTC during university years.

I seem to remember picking this up in a charity shop very cheap, due to tears on the front cover, although the A5 booklet and CD are just fine - it comes in a card backed paperback sized digipack.

As for the music, it's almost entirely Blegvad's spoken word re-telling of the Orpheus myth transported to a US Deep South setting (well, I think that's what it's about, but it's not clear), backed by ambient / dancebeat music from Partridge (if you know XTC's Homo Safari series of B sides, you'll know what I mean).

And it's the music which stands out more than the poetry, especially where it's more than just an ambient drone to add atmosphere, but most of the time that's what the music is.

There are a couple of standouts; in The Blimp Poet, Partridge borrows the theme from XTC's Omnibus, while Beetle features a lovely twangy guitar and Noun Verbs has a lovely minimal background.

But while it's not a classic of either participant's work, it's not a difficult listen, despite the impenetrable storyline. A fine gentle accompaniment to a quiet hour.

Link to opening track Savannah

3* - an interesting collaboration, without being an outstanding example of either participant's career.