Imaginations - Forever Rockin'

Name: Imaginations
Album: Forever Rockin
Year: 1985
Style: Calypso, Ska
Similar Bands: Kid Creole & Coconuts, English Beat
"One-Word" Review: fastbeat-happy-real-ska
Based Out Of: St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

Forever Rockin' - Cover & Record
Forever Rockin - Back & Record

Forever Rockin (1985)

1. Children Rock 6:06
2. Woman Take Over 4:09
3. The Iron Man 5:43 /
4. The Heat Is On 3:51
   
5. Break Dancing 2:55
   
6. Clear The Way 5:45
7. Party Grover 4:02

Album Rating (1-10): 6.0

Members & Other Bands:

Dicksie Jarvis - St Tenor Sax

Alvaro DeLugo III - Trumpet

Sergio (Messiah) Feliciano - Trumpet, Arrangements

Rudolph E. Sebastian - Trumpet

Joseph A. Engerman, Jr - Trombone

Michael Coggings - Trombone

Kelvin A. Cardin - Keys

Funk Gumbs - Keys, Arrangements

Albert Vanterpool - Guitar

Lonard Monsanto II - Drums

Dar(y)il Scott - Bass, Vox, Arrangements

Wilfredo Michael - Percussions

Rubio Finch - Percussions

Alphonso Demming - Vox

Geroge (Val) Whyte - Vox

Steve Tyrell - Cox

Jeanette Rouse - Backing Vox

Robert Becker - Cover Design

Cecil O Forbes - Cover Design, Exec Producer

Peter Andrews - Cover Design

Hilton Colon - Mixing

Unknown-ness: I never heard of these guys. I bought it because of the amazing artwork. The cover is so energetic, full of Japanese explosive sun imagery, and the back is familiar and cute, with the yearbook advertising like promotions of local businesses in the Virgin Islands. At first I thought they were fake (which they could be) but I think they are for real now. I like how some of the advertisers wish the band luck and congratulations. I see that the label is calypso records, so that is a dead give-a-way to the genre. But the band itself is huge, and I’m excited to check out a fun island sound.

Album Review: Let me first say, I could not find anything about this album anywhere. I’ve seen the name Imaginations Brass, also from the VI’s, but I don’t know if it is the same band.

“Children Rock” is a happy constantly moving song, featuring fast bongos/conga drums, horns that burst with excitement and upbeat party atmosphere. You can hear the smiles that the singers must be making in the vocals. There is a great usage of electronic synth too, that adds just a touch of diversity in brief moments. If there is any fault, is that the repetitiveness of the song is enhanced due to the length of the song. It is an incredibly catchy rhythm, but it does go on, feeling like an extended version of Buster Poindexter’s “Hot Hot Hot.” It ends in new wave style surge of energy
“Woman Take Over” picks up on the uber-glee and fast island/calypso music. The synth makes an interesting steel drum effect which parallels the melody that the excited horns play. And it fades out as the different horns solo briefly.
“The Iron Man” again features the electronic steel drum sound. But the music style, even though the drums are still fiery fast, the general tempo is slower, enough so to do easier dance moves to. The chorus is a nice three note downward scale played in different ranges, also in a downward scale. The constant drumming pace makes for the repetitive nature of the song.

“The Heat Is On” begins with cop sirens, and bleeds right into the drums and upbeat horns. This song is a little more like a dancing can-can show than basic island music. I guess the can-can shows are based on the same music, but this just feels more theatrical. But it is still very fast. Laser blasts are synthly produced over the end of the song; kinda new wave, and kinda disco.
“Break Dancing” continues again in the unfaltering energy output and fast authentic reggae/ska style singing. This song features a very fun chorus. A choir of voices chants Break, as the lead vocals follow up with dancing. And it is sung in a melody that is part conga, part salsa. Other percussive elements are layered in the background besides the normal drums. The structure is such that the verses are very short, and the chours comes on to take up equal time as the verse.
“Clear The Way” has more synth than the other songs at the outset, like a Sonic the Hedgehog level. But it sounds like a ska song with the trumpets. The percussion still thumps and pounds on.
“Party Grover” is a smoother, sexier song than the rest of the record. The occelating drum and cymbal is still pulsing, but the synth keyboard is much smoother, and the horns are used in short sporadic burst as an accent rather than the main musical force. The scene it creates is a smoky and sweaty club scene. Like a more authentic “All Night Long” And this is the first instance where I recognize the female vocals supplementing the lead vocals, but they have perhaps been there the whole time.

Stand Out Track: Break Dancing

Links:

Kwayne Bartlett - core

Music Stacks

Imagination - Bodytalk

Name: Imagination
Album: Bodytalk
Year: 1981
Style: Disco, Soul, Funk
Similar Bands: DeBarge, Stevie B, Smokey Robinson, Chromeo, Disco Bee Gees, Bronski Beat
"One-Word" Review: Falsetto-Sky-Disco
Based Out Of: London, England

Bodytalk -Cover & Record
Bodytalk- Back & Record

Bodytalk (1981)

1. Bodytalk 6:01
2. So Good So Right 6:58
3. Burnin' Up 4:45 /
4. Tell Me Do You Want My love 5:27
5. Flashback 4:30
6. I'll Always Love You (But Don't Look Back) 5:34
7. In And Out Of Love 5:31

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Members & Other Bands:

Leee John - Vox, Keys (Delfonics, Chairmen of the Board, Velvettes, Elgins, Fizzz)

Ashley Ingram - Bass, Guitar, Vox (Fizzz)

Errol Kennedy - Drums, Percussion, (Boys Brigade, Air training Corps)

Tony Swain - Keys, Producer, Arranged, Mixed Engineered (Spandau Ballet, Bananarama)

Steve Jolley - Percussion, Producer, Arranged (Spandau Ballet, Bananarama)

Orphy Robinson Vibes
Morgan Khan - Mixed, Engineer, Executive Producer
Richard Lengyel - Asst Engineer
Tony Bridge - Cutting Engineer
Ellis Elias - Executive Producer
Eliot Cohen - Executive Producer
Steve Hall - Mastering
Chess Creative Services - Design & Artwork
John Ridley - Photos
Terry Pastor - Illustration

Unknown-ness: I had never heard of these guys. But sometimes, I try to especially seek out music that consists of simple synth R&B / Rap, like Rockwell, and this album looked like it could have high potential to sound similar. It might, from their flamboyant, “Greek” dress, and “in the clouds” imagery, go to the extreme like Rick James or Cameo, but I was prepared to take the chance. Plus, 1981 might remove it far enough to sound more calculated or methodical. But this is what I hoped for, though the artwork begs to differ.

Album Review: I’ve read that these guys were one of the big r&b / Soul dance hit makers of the early 80’s time. Allmusic seemed to really like this album; at least they classified side A as near perfection.

“Bodytalk” begins with a nice synth drum beat. It is slow and methodical, some other effects and keyboard sample filter in. Then a straightforward piano picks up the calm pulsing melody. The vocals are shared, with the lead vocals wavering, and a bit like Smokey Robinson with that smooth higher pitch tone. The other vocals are deeper and a little grainy, at least in comparison. But the synth string sound and the harmonizing vocals categorize the song as a disco track, with a dark undertone. The piano plays up to the end, paralleled with a watery sounding synth keyboard in the lengthy instrumental, which gives focus to the slow hand clapping and bass beat. The chorus returns for a slew of repeats until the song ends.
“So Good So Right” a sputtering synth drum beat, faster paced, starts with a funky, but jittery keyboard sound. Tinkling chimes are added for atmospheric background. A bass/kick drum is added, followed by hand claps and the building instrumental tempo, finally including a chord playing piano gives way to vocals around the 2:45 mark. The vocal chorus makes the song sound like Chromeo (which I like a lot). But the verse vocals are again split up between the Robinson-Disco type vocals and the deeper controlled singing, which does not carry through the simple Chromeo vibe. Instead it is high pitch enough to fit along side of the Bee Gee’s More than A Woman. The song is a little long and repetitive, but it does not carry with it a pure dancing beat, where it floats along a cloud (pictured on their cover) rather than fills a dance floor.
“Burnin' Up” begins with a simple bass and clap beat. A repetitive piano fills in for the basic musical hook, and is supplemented with a “lead” piano (if you will). It is part jazzy and much more disco dancing than before. The vocals are minimal, just the song title repeated a few times to the basic rhythm. And then the instruments take back over in their repetitive loop, where the lead piano replaces any vocals in the verse and the chorus is the only place where vocals are displayed. In the last minute of the song, the music gets a little funkier with an electric current beat to changing up the music landscape a bit before the song ends in too much repetition.

“Tell Me Do You Want My Love” reminds me of a Madonna song, like “Borderline,” with a very repetitive keyboard and hand clap beat. There are a couple Michael Jackson breathes and choking coughs (like he does), but the song does not hold up to either artist even close. The chorus is a little catchy, but it is not long enough. His vocals also sound a bit like Bronski Beat. There is an instrumental section with the same backing beat, but with the synth keyboard taking center stage spotlight, but not performing very boldly. Instead it sticks to the basic beat. It fades out shortly after the vocals come back.
“Flashback” continues with the same keyboard sound, and rising electric tone, again reminding me of Madonna. The disco hypnotic chanting of the title repeats a few times and the computer sound beeping synth keeps the pulse of the listener going. The song just goes on, even though it is one of the shortest songs on the album, and repeats its sections. For a dance track, this song would work well, in a dark blinking, flashing light room; I could see people dancing away to it back in the 70’s. Unfortunately, the album came out in 1981.
“I'll Always Love You (But Don't Look Back)” begins like a ballad, with slow piano only. The vocals are still high pitch like Bronski Beat, but they are more relaxed and slow, almost sad or at least sentimental. This is the slow dance. If there was a video for this, it would be painfully cheesy, flashing back to memories of a relationship that the dude at the piano was just released from.
“In And Out Of Love” is a slow, jazzy number, which feels more like background muzak than disco dance track. The song feels like an r&b/smooth jazz template. The backing vocals repeat the title, while the falsetto lead vocals parallel with its own unique melody. Maybe a little bit of Annie Lennox too. This song adds in a xylophone too, which is unique to the song.

Stand Out Track: Burnin' Up

Links:

Allmusic

Wikipedia

Discogs

Soulwalking

Leee's website

Soultracks

Fansite

Discomusic.com

IDA Sessions - s/t

Name: Ida Sessions
Album: S/T
Year: 1998
Style: Electro Noise
Similar Bands: Sonic Youth, Early Flaming Lips, Braniac, Enon
"One-Word" Review: musical equivilant-to-ghostchild-horror-movies
Based Out Of: Portland, Or

Ida Sessions - Cover & Record
Ida Sessions - Back & Record

Ida Sessions (1998)

1. Depth Charger 6:20
2. Dog Race 4:48
3. Give Us The Crystals 4:26/
4. Sick Man Of Asia 11:02
5. Time To Die 4:04

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Members & Other Bands:

Summer Mastous (the Fisticuffs Bluff, Octant, Miranda July, Love as Laughter)

Donovan Skirvin (Miranda July)

Tobyn McCormick (Kill Me Tomorrow)

Don Godwin - Producer, Recording, Mastering (Red Alert Works record label)

Unknown-ness: I had never heard of these guys. I saw the record in a thrift store, and got it…because…well, I don’t really know exactly why. The design looks cheap and amateurish in a bad way, and there are only 5 songs, all of them over 4 minutes, with one clocking in over 11 minutes: usually not my cup of tea. Plus, all the songs were recorded in 1997, so the genre could be anything from experimental to hard core to new age. I do like the song name “Give Us the Crystals” though. I did not realize until I did a little research that the name Ida Sessions was taken from the movie Chinatown, so not all bad. And in other movie tie-ins, two of the three guys worked with Miranda July, director of "Me You and Everyone We Know" on her album before this release. But it is not a long album, so it can’t be that much of a waste of time if it turns out bad.

Album Review: Reading the reviews, I’ve seen that this is categorized as a theatrical, crackling dark rock and art-punk. Lets see if I can review this without pushing into these specific categories.

“Depth Charger” fades in with some off key evil electronic work, a distant echoing drum beat and electro fuzz. The vocals are begging and shrill at times, like an abducted victim crying for her release. My first thought is Sonic Youth, with the slightly melodic structure buried under fuzz and echoing feed back. The song’s pace is somewhat driving with sudden breaks of form and what sounds like vocals gurgling up from the bottom of a murky lake. The driving fuzz comes back with the whining vocals. The Buzzing and driving music that picks up after it sounds like the song ended remind me a lot of Braniac. Then the tempo changes with help and guidance from a dark, eerie piano base into a wobbling bowling pin: thick and dense and ready to topple. This reminds me a little of when I saw Deerhunter live…except that they sucked and this is a better, more dynamic and way more interesting.
“Dog Race” starts with deep echoing bass sounding like it is played with a bow. A general omnipresent hum is in the background. A pleasant piano is played, giving direction and way to the fast vocals. The fuzz and noise is poured on top of the general piano melodies, which are given the chance to emerge every once in a while. The vocals remind me a lot of Tim Taylor from Braniac and John Schmersal from Enon. There are many little vocal sections just thrown together and overlaid across the piano and fuzz background, which itself, stays pretty consistent.
For the first few seconds, “Give Us The Crystals” displays a happy piano played at a distance, and in echo, but is masked with dark emotions and effects from the self-made music environment. The vocals are an emo-shouting, partly in monotone pitch, but not over-bearing, and occur at a distance too. The music drifts in and out of chaos, with the presence of bass added. The song collapses around 3:15 to a slow-down spiral, with a children’s piano effect brought to the front. Eventually the spiral burns out with a few final crashing instruments, and the ghostly remains of the piano and keyboard.

“Sick Man Of Asia” needs preparation to endure the long 11+ minute track. But as it begins, feedback hum fades up, and tinny metallic guitar echos away. The spooky repetitive keyboard/piano slams home the uncertainty of where you are. Vocals cry and spackle the song, as weeping reminders of spirits once here. It really does evoke a mystical, haunting spirit with the production. The vocals are so out of key, they are almost painful when they sing “It’s all over.” Eventually, you get used to the tone, and it weirdly melds into one complete soundtrack. Again, it sounds like the Enon/Braniac duo, or any new electro vocoder based fuzz bands out there today, in its urgency and vocal style. The second section of vocals is performed at a fun head nodding pace, and takes all the attention away from the swirling background and neurotic piano playing. Around 6 minutes, the building fuzz makes it seem like the track is going to end. But instead, a quieter section begins, with vocals like the stereotypical horror movie’s killer child spirit’s playground chanting. The song changes gears slightly as the piano becomes a crystal like repetitively cycle, and together with the vocals, the song gains something that might resemble hope. And noisy guitar feedback ends the song.
“Time To Die” begins with a gospel chorus chanting angelically. But 22 seconds later, the crashing guitars disturb the peace, and the two fight for the spotlight. A dark, evil sounding piano repeats over and over again, bringing increased stress and edginess to the voices which have triumphed over the guitar for the time being. But the keyboard’s intensity slowly builds, and it feels like the song may come crashing down at any second. Sure enough the metal, electric guitar returns and somewhat of a balance is reached. The guitar, over exerted, shuts down again for a shorter interval and hard core begins to win out over the gospel choir. But it is the chorus that has the last “la la la” on the album.

Stand Out Track: Dog Race

Links:

PDX Underground Art

Summer's WikiaSCUM page

Williamette Week Online 7-8-98

Kill Me Tomorrow review

Donovan: Portland's Best Cobbler

Donovan: Shoe Article

Miranda July's Album on Answers.com

Dissidenten - Life at the Pyramids

Name: Dissidenten
Album: Life at the Pyramids
Year: 1986
Style: World, Prog
Similar Bands: Firewater, some XTC, some Talking Heads, (very uneducated in World Music)
"One-Word" Review: India-African-Disco-Pop-Prog
Based Out Of: Berlin, Germany

Life At The Pyramids - Cover & Record
Life At The Pyramids - Back & Record

Life At The Pyrmaids (1986)

1. Sultan Swing 5:56
2. Mata Hari 5:45
3. Telephone Arab 6:05
4. Blue Nile 2:00/
5. At The Pyramids 4:38
6. Berlin Beduins 4:20
7. Roots of Tanger 3:20
8. Do the Pharaoo 6:10
9. Song for Winnie Mandela 2:30

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Members & Other Bands:

Marlon Klein - Drums, Perc, Keyboards, Vox (Gary Wright)

Uve Mullrich - Bass, Oud, Guitar, Vox

Friedo Josch - Wind Instruments, Keyboards
Sheik Abdul Al Rashid - Recording
Marlon Klein - Engineering, Producer
Gunni Heidler - Recording
Stella Chiweshe - Recording, Vox, Mbira
Arno Declair - Photos
Ernst Wirz - Photos, Visual Dissidenten
Hartmut Bremer - Cover
Dan Behrman - US/Canada Booking
El Houssaine Kili - Guitar, Vox, Lyric & Musical Background Info
Hamid Barudi - Vox
Rabii Youmni - Vox
Cherif M Lamrani - Vox, Mandolincello, Lyric & Musical Background Info (Lem Chaheb)
Richie Arndt - Guitar
Charlie Genwo - Fluegelhorn
Roman Bunka - Guitar, Oud
Mohammed "Zain" Adnani - Nay, Vox
Abdelkader Zefzaf - Gimbri, Vox
Roland Spremberg - Keys, Computer Programming
Ernst Walder - Visual Dissidenten
Daniel (Apropos) - Visual Dissidenten
Lilo Nido - Visual Dissidenten
Nadine Fachard - Ethnological Advice

Unknown-ness: I’ve never heard of these guys. But from the name (along with lots of dental work I’ve had recently) “Denten” sounds like it is related to teeth. And from the high energy on the cover and the group photo on the back, I am under the impression that they will be like Adam Ant or Midnight Oil or some new wave, tribal/roots based band. However, most of their songs have a middle eastern theme to them, so I really don’t know what to expect, except that I picked this up because I like the look of the album and there name has a lot of energy in it too.

Album Review: Reading about these Germans, they moved around Europe and Middle East; even to parts of Africa to incorporate the culture, tribal and national sounds to create a conglomerate sound of world music before world beat was created. They have been sited as the grandfathers of the genre. I do not know much, if anything about world music, so this will be a review taken from the background of minimal jazz and prog rock jamming. Please forgive my naivety and probably unintelligence in this review when it comes to musical descriptions.

“Sultan Swing” starts off with a slow fade up into an Arabian sounding flute, tribal drums, and a general hum in the background. The drum beat picks up a ceremonial dance beat, and Middle Eastern (M.E.) style music commences. Vocals and chanting are laid over top in melodic parallel to the music. The little bit of music I listen to that has a similar to this is Firewater’s most recent album, Golden Hour, and some of XTC’s late 80’s music (think “Terrorism”) sound very similar. I’m even to naïve about the music to try and explain what instruments are being utilized. There are two or three distinct sounds that ride each other like musical waves up and down the melodies.
“Mata Hari” starts with a more forceful, driving drum beat and M.E. music continues, this time, accented with guitars which sound very progressive, in the realms of video game music. After the electric guitar solo, the musical genre is transformed into a Caribbean / Island music theme, featuring a rhythm guitar instead and a Talking Heads like vocal style. But when the guitar changes, the singing does too, fitting more into an Indian style than Caribbean.
“Telephone Arab” begins like a night club Arabian dance, with a catchy M.E. hook repeating and layered over a simple staggered electro/techno drum & bass beat. The vocals too, feature the accentuated syllables synonymous with M.E. music. It does go on for a bit, without much variation, but the synth music that accompanies the M.E. music is a little bombastic, like jilting disco.
“Blue Nile” is a dark, swirling building section of a song, like the calm before the sand storm you can see tornado-ing around at the distance horizon. The vocals sound like they are mixed backwards, skipping as they are played in reverse. There is an echoing on the woodwind instruments that almost sounds like bees buzzing around.

“At The Pyramids” begins with a quiet peaceful hum, and what I imagine to be a sitar picked, with its unique, buzz-rattling sound. After a minute 45 sing chanting begins like waking up, and rising as the sun follows your movements into the sky. It is a slow moving song, eyes uncrusting into awakeness. The hum also ends the track
“Berlin Beduins” feels like another video game with a synth mandolin introduction. The song is dark, and again sung with the stereotypical M.E. style of extended syllables and vibrated pitch changes. An electric guitar gives some solo licks, uncharacteristically metal, over the continuing music backdrop.
“Roots of Tanger” has an unsettled, rumbling beginning of randomly plucked deep bass sounding notes and bongo/tribal drum rhythms. This song is more African in its sounding that M.E. but it is not without mentioning that some of the vocals do rely on M.E. style. As the music finds its repetitive rhythm, the vocals take turns going in and out of chanting and into effects and speaking.
“Do the Pharaoo” starts out with a complicated drum rhythm, and the vocals croon over top, gently touching on the notes that are suggested by the rhythm. In the second verse, a rhythm guitar is added to the mix. The chorus, which is the majority of the song, is pretty catchy, and feels like a video game musical loop. The drums and rhythm guitar carry the melody and give a base of where the improved instrumentation can shoot from. And there is a lot of musical jamming in the second half of the song. The verse is remixed and shifter around to be different, but equally as catchy, it is just a bit too repetitive.
“Song for Winnie Mandela” ends the album with a delicate bell/xylophone mix, with an uplifting pleasant bass line (a little like XTC’s “Battery Brides” or Spoon’s “Anything You Want”). The vocals are African tribal in their meter, and the song feels a little like a Paul Simon song. A flute dances around in the background for extra texture, and ads a great deal to the track as it fades out for the finish.

Stand Out Track: Song For Winnie Mandella

Links:

allmusic

wikipedia

official site

Biography

Myspace

Music Stacks

Discogs

PRI's The World

World Music National Geographic

Dog & Pony

Bonzo Dog Band - Keynsham

Name: Bonzo Dog Band
Album: Keynsham
Year: 1969
Style: Theatrical Pop
Similar Bands: Kinks (concepts albums), 10cc, Monty Python, Rutles, Beatles, Bee Gees, Musical Soundtracks
"One-Word" Review: Jokey-nonsensical dry humored show tunes
Based Out Of: London, England

Keynsham - Cover & Back
Keynsham - Liner Notes & Lyrics

Keynsham - Record

Keynsham (1969)

1. You Done My Brain In 1:40
2. Keynsham 2:20
3. Quiet Talks & Summer Walks 3:15
4. Tent 3:20
5. We Were Wrong 2:30
6. Joke Shop Man 1:23
7. The Bride Stripped Bare (By The Bachelors) 2:35
8. Look At Me, I'm Wonderful 1:45
9. What Do You Do? 3:15
10. Mr. Slater's Parrot 2:18
11. Sport 3:20
12. I Want To Be With You 2:15
13. Noises For the Leg 2:15
14. Busted 5:40

Album Rating (1-10): 8.5

Members & Other Bands:
Vivian Stanshall - Cover Art, Producer, Story, Narration (Mike Oldfield, The Sean Head Showband, Bonzo Dog Freaks, BiG GrunT, Rawlinson End, Grimms, Rutles, Alberts, Temperance Seven)
Neil Innes - Producer (Rutles, Monty Python, The World, GRIMMS)
Barry Sheffield - Advise & Assistance, Engineer
Mrs. Slater - Hysterics
Fred Mundt - Aggro, Trucking & Handling
Chalky Chalkey - Aggro, Trucking & Handling
Dennis Cowan - Narration
Roger Ruskin Spear - Theremin Leg
"Legs" Larry Smith - Perfumed Parlour Snake
Maison Poov - Hairstyles
R Slater - Functions of the Body Arrangement
Gerry Salisbury - Jazz Cornets & Fish n' Chips

Unknown-ness: I had never heard of this band. But I found the record amongst a pretty good pile of records donated to the thrift store I work at. Not knowing them at all besides the wacky cartoons on the cover and the silly band name, I decided to give them a try. I was hoping for something wacky like Beefheart or Zappa, but since I had never heard of them, I did not know what to expect. The songs were fairly short in length, so I wondered what they were like. The interior gate fold described the whole album as a series of events, so I was into the concept album idea.

Album Review: As I've figured out from a bit of research, these guys worked with Eric Idle, and Paul McCartney and were even in the film for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band briefly. So it should be no surprise to find that their music was good, if at all, a bit cartoony. I should like this!

“You Done My Brain In” starts with iron works, steel slamming. Then the funky groove begins with horns and a deep bass drum. An organ fills in the background. It sounds like it would fit onto the Beatles White Album.
“Keynsham” continues the funkyness with a soulful flute and repetitive rhythm guitar, which together sound very psychedelic. They lyrics are 60’s hippie nonsensical rhyming jabber and repeat twice before the song ends.
“Quiet Talks & Summer Walks” begins like it says quietly, like a breezy walk through the Bee Gee’s catalogue with a flute, strings and slow waves of piano. The horns begin to become more prominent as well as the rest of the instruments, and it morphs into a Belle & Sebastian song. But when it returns to lyrics, it goes back to the ballad format, and that is where it ends with the piano
“Tent” starts with what sounds like a dentist drill and a patient gargling in pain for 11 seconds. But the choppy music and vocals begin, sounding like Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, but more melodic and theatrical. In the first instrumental section, the guitar plays at it’s own pace, off beat to the bass and drums. It reminds me of something that would come from Rocky Horror Picture Show. The horn begins again, introducing the instrumental section that ends the song, followed with the same drum/bass beat. Throughout the song, the horn is the most important part, really drawing out the musical hook, like a good bluesy pub song.
“We Were Wrong” begins like an oldies doo-wop song, this time reminding me of “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop Of Horrors. It has a slow bass and organ heavy pace with deep vocals, and the chorus changes up slightly each utterance, but it happens enough to sound repetitive. Just as the song seems to end, the bass and drums pick up the doo-wop melody and it continues for an extra 30 seconds.
“Joke Shop Man” is a short song where the dual vocals of high nasally and deep bass sing over each other with the same lyrics basically acapella, accompanied slightly by a piano. After the vocals are done, odd “joke shop” squeak and twirl sound effects are composed together to continue the tribal drum rhythm for another minute with a fade out.
“The Bride Stripped Bare (By The Bachelors)” is introduced with some comedic dialogue. Then the guitar begins and the song sounds just like They Might Be Giants song “Wicked Little Critta,” but only in the chorus. It is theatrical with odd sounds and tempo changes everywhere and different vocals spoken and sung, perhaps fitting better into the musical Tommy. The song is pushed along with the organ and bass guiding it with the most changes and the tempo relies on them the most. The song finishes up with spoken vocals over top of the music, and a fade out.
“Look At Me, I'm Wonderful” is a with crooning deep vocals singing without music accompaniment. The singing ends, and the dialogue begins to buy the record, and a knock at the door saying to open up. After a fair bit of silence, jazzy vaudeville music brings the vocals back on for a brief fade in and fade out, and the record finishes side A.

“What Do You Do?” begins side B with rhythm guitars continuous drums and horns. The song feels like it will be one dimensional with no changes for the first minute until it reveals the chorus, which is a catchy little segment that builds up but returns to the plain hypnotic verse again. The song ends with guitar meandering, feeling senseless and drawn out.
“Mr. Slater's Parrot” is a goofy song that begins with an alarm clock going off. It possesses a jolly, purely British, gay rag time tempo, with the “parrot” squawking “hello” and other noises all over the place. This does go on for a while.
“Sport” starts with a psychedelic spoken instruction to go back to childhood. A Victorian harpsichord fades up, which is transposed with a medieval merriment of a jester’s tune. The chorus of vocals swaying and beer drinkingly declare “sport!” And a “father’ reads aloud a note that his child should not partake in physical education for doctor’s reasons. The song tempo changes like the Conchords spoof on David Bowie, and finishes out with a catchy guitar hook and a chorus of bells.
“I Want To Be With You” brings the majestic flute back to a Bee Gees folk song tempo.
“Noises For the Leg” is an instrumental that begins with shouting and wolf howls. Then more medieval music in the form of woodwinds come on, as well does a Theremin. The music kind of takes a turn toward sea shanty before it goes back to the medieval + Theremin concoction.
“Busted” begins with a quiet hum, and vocals come on with a children’s play yard sing-song melody. The chorus is a very theatrical and catchy bit saying how the singer got busted. Then a deep bass voice adds “by the law.” After a bit of music, a deep judgely voice sings another verse up to a revisit of the catchy chorus. The album ends with a see-saw two note bass line, a train passing a station is added, then the bass decides to become groovy and it interacts with a trumpet playing familiar samples and the guitar. But it is the trumpet that finishes out the album and fades out as it ends.

Stand Out Track: Tent

Links:

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Music Brainz Discog

Human Hands - Bouncing To Disc

Name: Human Hands
Album: Bouncing to Disc (Complete H.H. volume 1)
Year: 1997
Style: Punk/New Wave
Similar Bands: ? & Mysterians, Code Blue, A's, XTC, Talking Heads, Gang Of Four, The Planets, Franz Ferdinand
"One-Word" Review: Jittery Art Punk
Based Out Of: Pasadena, Cali

Bouncing To Disc - Cover & Back

Bouncing To Disc - Liner Notes & CD

Bouncing To Disc - Photo Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc - Photo Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc - Lyric Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc - Lyric Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc - Lyric & Credit Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc - Credit Liner Notes

Bouncing To Disc (1997)

1. New Look 2:44
2. Dilemmas 2:59
3. Fair 3:16
4. I Got Mad 2:51
5. Trains Vs Planes 3:59
6. Stupid World 3:38
7. Upside Down 4:44
8. My Kitchen 4:05
9. Lurk (live) 4:01
10. Dogfood 2:07
11. Go Existential (studio) 5:03
12. Jubilee 3:56
13. Rapture Of the Deep (live) 3:29
14. Hex (live) 3:00
15. Phantoms in the Darkroom 7:06
16. Walk A Crooked Line 2:54
17. Insomnia 3:38
18. State Of Mine (1988) 2:50

Album Rating (1-10): 9.5

Members & Other Bands:

Dennis Duck - Drums, Percussion, Keys, Vox (Dream Syndicate)

Juan Gomez - Guitar, Bass, Vox (The Romans)

Bill Noland Keys, Cornet, Vocals (Wall of Voodoo)

Rick Potts - Bass, Guitar, Sax, Saw, Vox, Drawings (Solid Eye)

David Wiley - Vox, Guitar, Sax, Percussion

Susan Seager - Photos

Cassimus - Photos

Andre Knecht - Restoration, Editing, Mastering

Michael Rozon - Index Time Coding

Michael Uhlenkott - Boolket Design, percussion

Ed Barger - Engineering, Mixing

Bill Noland - Mixing, Engineering

Ron Kane - Engineering

Michael Hamilton - Engineering, Mixing

Don Bonebrake - Marimba

Keith Mitchell - Steel Drum

Avi Kipper - Engineering & Mixing

Paul B Butler - Engineering & Mixing

Unknown-ness: I had never heard of these guys when I initially bought this album back in 1997. I picked it up to listen to it because I thought the name Human Hands referenced the Elvis Costello song. Ironically, I learned that it is similar music to Elvis’s early stuff, but as this was a compilation of their catalogue from 1980, their name preceded his song “Human Hands.” This is one album that since purchasing, I’ve listened to it many times, and have even gotten to see them live recently, when they opened for El Vez in Philly despite one member passing away (D. Wiley). The band is still together and has released their proper first full length recently too. But going back to the packaging, I was not inspired to buy the cd based on the cover art work. It does not really look like what the music represents. In fact, if I did not get the chance to listen to the album before I bought it, I probably would have not picked it up for the $2.50 price.

Album Review: “New Look” is a really really great song featuring all the jittery spirit that the best new wave/punk bands have. The music is just as bouncy as the lyrics, and the organ sound in the background adds a psychedelic spirit that summons ? & The Muysterians into the 80’s. The topic is also very attractive, putting down bands and style as being nothing but a façade and fluff with no underlying talent. This is a solid song, that can only be built off of greatly.
“Dilemmas” sounds like a start stopping, jittery XTC song, featuring the similar keyboards and a strong catchy group effort in the chorus. His vocals are an attractive mix of The Talking Heads and Gang Of Four. The song bounces up and down and makes you want to move. The delivery in the chorus is a great release of the building panic that the music evokes in the verse.
“Fair” begins with the organ in a musical scale straight down. The music becomes dark, and the vocals are a monotone, two part mix, starting with a fuzzy, low-fi distance sound, only to be followed up with a closer, louder, right next to your ear whisper. The music is carnival in nature, and revolves like a continual spiraling top. This sounds like the band I came to know, and will review eventually here, the Planets. After the near perfection of these first three songs, it is a wonder where there is to go on the album.“I Got Mad” begins with a drum and bass quiet match, yet it is full of potential. The guitar comes in over top recreating a near perfect version of XTC’s “Radio’s In Motion” The vocals are distant and removed, as if sung through a quieted megaphone. The style of singing is the same as it had been throughout the album: a relaxed, exhausted sounding singing, where he lays of the vocals over the music rather than following its melody, but using the music as notes as where to start and stop singing.
“Trains Vs Planes” is a dance track featuring the angular drum/cymbal technique bands like Franz Ferdinand take. This is a narrative comparison song, reminding me of Oingo Boingo’s “Reptiles and Samurai” if only by structure. I remember they played this song live when I saw them. The song is another great example of building and tension release, where the verse is ultra simple and repetitive and the chorus is musically catchy and the lyrics are chaotically thrown together, cramming syllabus in to make the sentences fit. It feels more like a Dead Milkmen song with the vocal style and musical content and silliness.
“Stupid World” is back to the XTC Go2 synth and jittery structure musically. The vocals have the cadence and emotion much like David Byrne. The music delves into evil carnival music, even the lyrics remark about this by singing about a roller coaster. The song is a very teen/juvenile theme, and it ends just calling the entire world stupid, like a normal teenager’s angsty argument“Upside Down” has an upbeat, and pleasant horn sounding synth effect. The vocals are only sung in the chorus, and the rest of the song reminds me the little I know about Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. This is a good example, of what I would believe to be Art Punk. The lyrics paint quite a specific picture with each description. “My Kitchen” Features the watery guitar style I like about Track Star, and the psych organ. The vocals are again, styled like Byrne, and the music reminds me if a Talking Heads song was played by the Beach Boys. The over all effect is a very pleasant head nodding fast pace tune, full of oldies structure and art-punk abstract metaphoric lyrics.“Lurk” is done live, and features squealing horns over rushed chord changes. The vocals are deep and chanted, almost sounding stupid, or Neanderthalic. The short sections are repetitive but the guitar holds it together. The instrumental tempo changes break up the monotony, and blossom into their own fast paced sections before returning to the verse repetitive section.

“Dogfood” is an angular, jittery guitar driven instrumental song with equally frantic drumming. There is a rising and falling wind howl layered in the background which is unusual for the song’s tempo, but does not detract from its vibe, if only adding a haunting element.“Go Existential” begins with a dance drum beat, and a chaotically picked guitar, and normal sounding new wave synth building. One the vocals begin, the music comes together as a jumping poppy package. It too follows the dictionary definition of jittery pop with both the music and vocals that they have set forth on the album thus far. The instrumental break is weird and wacky for the sake of being jarring and making the listener wonder what’s next...part of the existential theme, no doubt. The song then picks up it melody and basic design right before the vocals come back. It ends with some carnival, carousel sounding musical stylings right before it adds a final round of the verse/chorus singing of the song’s title“Jubilee” begins with tribal drum beats, furthing the comparison to Talking Heads. The vocals are monotone and melancholy, but the chorus picks up like a Franz Ferdinand song, as the vocals croon over the upbeat danceable burst of musical energy that the verse builds up to very well. I remember them playing this song live, too. It is a fun clapping, dancing around event of a song. The synth is a simple one note at a time structure, and it leads up to an instrumental version of the chorus. They really bring out the xylophone at the very end to add a little last bit of tribal sound before it ends
“Rapture Of the Deep” sounds like a Residents song. It’s keyboards carnivally rise and fall and the vocals are musically sung a bit more than the Residents, and a little less creepily, but it has a darkness to it that never goes away. There are some weird swirling electronic effects that sound like a modem dialing up to the internet, and it regroups back into the previous formula to support the overly angry and emotional display of vocals.
“Hex” is an instrumental track that fades in on a chaotic musical storm of organ sounding synth rising and falling and a bass that bounces around regardless of the song’s melody. The drums remain steady, as the backbone of the track. Around two minutes, it takes a breather, but it builds up for 30 seconds back into the rushed onslaught that would spur the most stand still audience into bouncing off eachother.
“Phantoms in the Darkroom” is more of a tribal head shrinker theme song than a celebratory tribal dance song. It has the elements of a chant and steady beat of bongo drums that sound as if they are part didgeridoo. The guitars are slowly added in bit parts, and around 2:30, the song’s tempo becomes more rushed and stressful, like you are watching a bomb tech cut the appropriate wires. The mystical, gothic keyboard somehow transform the song from the sacred sacrificial song that it began like into a dark new wave ballad; at least as close to a ballad as Human Hand will get to. Again, this song becomes a Talking Heads song by the end of the track.
“Walk A Crooked Line” feels like a different song. It is trying to be sung too much, and seems out of character from the direction the album was going. It is a repetitive song with the extremely short chorus repeating and popping up in random (but not musically random) places. The whole song just seems to be a “wait for it” song, where the building in the verse could break into the chorus at any point. It keeps you on the edge of your seat by doing this, but it still feels out of place.
“Insomnia” begins just like a Mega Man level...it is Gemini Man that I am thinking of. It is a very video game music-y instrumental song. There are break downs where the mechanism goes haywire, but it fixes it self and returns to the normal theme after a brief restructuring.
“State Of Mine (1988)” was apparently made in 1988, and as such, came 8 years after much of the material on the album. Its vocals sound removed, and a little more settled; definitely less energetic and jittery. It sounds like a much smoother ? and the Mysterians. There is an instrumental with swirling keys and a synth horn. It returns to the dark themed verse, which is catchier than the chorus.

Stand Out Track: New Look

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Hoodoo Gurus - Magnum Cum Louder

Name: Hoodoo Gurus
Album: Magnum Cum Louder
Year: 1989
Style: Alternative / College Radio
Similar Bands: REM, Midnight Oil, Gin Blossoms, Replacements, INXS
"One-Word" Review: Gen-reclectic-college-favorites
Based Out Of: Sydney, Australia

Magnum Cum Louder - Cover, Back & Tape

Magnum Cum Louder - Liner Notes, Tape

Magnum Cum Louder (1989)

1. Come Anytime 3:20
2. Another World 3:16
3. Axegrinder 3:27
4. Shadow Me 3:41
5. Glamourpuss 2:36
6. Hallucination 5:05/
7. All The Way 3:11
8. Baby Can Dance (Pts 2-4) 3:17
9. I Don't Know Anything 4:07
10. Where's That Hit? 3:56
11. Death in the Afternoon 4:08

Album Rating (1-10): 6.5

Members & Other Bands:

Dave Faulkner - Guitar, Hamond Organ, Vox (the Victims, Antenna, Persian Rugs)

Rick Grossman - Bass, Vox (Matt Finish, DiVinyls, Ghostwriters, The Kelly Gang, Persian Rugs)

Mark Kingsmill - Drums, Grunts (The Hitmen, New Christs, Screaming Tribesmen, Hellcats, Super K, Persian Rugs)

Brad Shepherd - Guitar, Harmonica, Vox (Fun Things, The Hitmen, Super K, Ghostwriters,

Beasts of Bourbon, Roddy Ray'Da and the Surfin' Caesars , Replacements, Shutterspeed, The Monarchs, Persian Rugs )

Unknown-ness: I had heard the name Hoodoo Gurus somewhere before, but I cannot say under what circumstances. On the basis of name recognition alone, at some point I bought this tape. I don’t know when, or if I ever listened to it, but there it sat on my tape shelf for a long time. I think I had thought of them as a quirky alternative/college radio rock band. I don’t know if they have silly lyrics or not but I came to the conclusion of regarding them as a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously somehow. The name, picture and font all blend together to seem like an African witch doctor, but finding out they were from Australia, an outback medicine man might be a better basis.

Album Review: “Come Anytime” begins with acoustic guitar, reminding me of “Jane Says” and then electric guitar is quickly added. The vocals begin and my first thought was REM, which quickly transmorphs into Midnight Oil. So I think that is a good combo to describe the vocals, and music as well. The chorus features a catchy melody sung in a few up and down variations. It is a good delivery from the anticipating in the verse. The organ adds a great thickness and depth to the song.
“Another World” also begins with the acoustic guitar and this feels even more like Midnight oil, with a shaky vocal performance. The music is a meandering college radio rock song, predecessor to the Gin Blossoms. There is no real build and release like most pop songs have, this is just a repetitive camp fire singalong with the same unchanging melody, eventually broken down to la la la-ing along at the end.
“Axegrinder” Echoing drums that almost sound like from a drum machine begin this one, and the lyrics are sung fast over the music, similar to INXS. It feels like it is trying to be a metal song, but just can’t get there, wrapped up in too much light production. The chord progression is pretty identical to “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And the song ends with the chorus repeated and a looping electric guitar like a siren.
“Shadow Me” is an honest ballad, reminding me of the sincerity in much of James catalogue. I am reminded of their song “Runaground.” Although popular at the time, the echoing, jangley guitar really dates the song, and makes me lose interest pretty fast.
“Glamourpuss” picks up the pace with a rough, coked-up grainy rock-a-billy punk like repetitive guitar hook. It drives on somewhat fast with a few hiccups in the vocals, which builds character. But the song never rests for the full 2:36.
“Hallucination” is a somewhat boring head swaying song with a choir of vocals used as a break chanting ahhh at the end of every measure. The chorus is a bit faster and fun, but over all, it is a drab song. The musical break is predominately electric guitar and harmonica. The vocals sound like they get further and further away ending up by an echoing shell by the end.

“All The Way” is a catchy pop rock song. I’m not fond of the vocals, like a less deep Brian Ritchie. But the chorus that the song began with repeats a few times: the catchy “hey-hey-heys.” The short interlude is all lead guitar, and the chorus comes back for a final round.
“Baby Can Dance (Pts 2-4)” begins with quiet whispering, overlaid vocals. The drums kick in and the combating vocals synch up like it is a Flight Of The Conchords song. The song transitions to an anthemic head nodding section after the instrumental section. The song is powerful with the dual vocals. It ends with a few final guitar strums.
“I Don’t Know Anything” blasts off fast and furious with an interesting, catchy bass line and driving drums. The song changes up a couple of times, throwing varieties of the melody over the drum, bass, & rhythm guitar steady canvas.
“Where's That Hit?” begins with the organ playing ballpark baseball songlettes. Then the dusty driving country tinged song trucks along. There is a short breakdown where the baseball organ plays the “Charge!” theme. And the song dives back into the path of traffic with harmonica guiding. The song ends with some more vartiations on the “Charge” theme even altered with a harmonica.
“Death in the Afternoon” is a middle album track places at the end to keep momentum going. But it’s the last song, so it doesn’t have anything to work toward. The chorus is a catchy, multi-voiced chanting hook, which utters the title of the song. The guitars parallel its melody instrumentally. The vocals have lots of energy to them. Police sirens and screeching tires play out as the song winds down with the music overstaying its welcome.

Stand Out Track: Come Anytime

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