This one is deep into the Canterbury Sound rabbit hole. Pip Pyle, who sadly died in 2006, aged 56, was drummer with Gong, Hatfield And The North and National Health, also being a major composer for the latter two.
In the 1980s he moved to France and played in numerous jazz/rock combos, before releasing his solo album in 1998.
If I call this album self-indulgent, it's praise not criticism. Pyle had put in the years of hard work, playing 'difficult' music without ever compromising, and this album is his "fuck 'em, I'm doing what I want to" statement, with songs and tunes he'd nurtured over the years.
It opens with Seven Sisters, a song which Pyle had had kicking about in several bands for a number of years, with lyrics inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. It's a gentle piece, slow and wistful, with some lovely vocals from Richard Sinclair, and guitar and piano contributions from Phil Miller and Dave Stewart - reuniting the four members of Hatfield And The North for the first time since the band split in 1975. That's followed by Chinese Whispers, another song which flows nicely (sung by Jakko Jakszyk, singer/guitarist with the current incarnation of King Crimson), a very personal song about Pyle missing his home country and his children.
The obligatory Beatles' cover Strawberry Fields Forever follows, sung ethereally by Barbara Gaskin (no 1 hit with It's My Party, 1981), fairly straight at first, but like the Fab Four, there's a frantic run out section. It's OK, but doesn't really add much to the long list of Beatles' covers. Title track Seven Year Itch, sung by John Greaves (Henry Cow, National Health) is a powerful, angry number and it's balanced by the return of Gaskin on I'm Really OK, a friend's poem set to music, slow and moody, but nice, without overwhelming.
Once Around The Shelves is a funky instrumental with a fine guitar solo from Jakszyk, then there's Long On, a tune I don't remember, despite having listened to this album many times, a slow narrative (Jakszyk on vocals) which doesn't really feel like it goes anywhere, although there's a stirring bass section alongside the final verse. Shipwrecked is a song which had previously appeared on a Hatfield live show in a one-off reunion in 1990, a reasonable song, but its high point is the Phil Miller guitar solo in the final 2 minutes. Penultimate track is a brooding, electronic arrangement of L'Etat Des Choses, theme to the Wim Wender film of the same name, an eerie listen with lots going on, but never too busy to lose focus. The album ends with the glorious Foetal Fanfare Fandango, a mad brass march in 9/4 time (so I'm told!) designed to create chaos in any marching parade.
This is a really enjoyable album. There isn't really a thread, but so much of it is like hearing from old friends, I'd say it's a must for Canterbury obsessives, and possibly something interesting for normal folk.
4* - a very interesting later addition to the Canterbury Sound
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