Choices Under Pressure By Peter Blegvad

Don't fence him in

In the UK we don’t really know what to do with artists who transgress the generic boundaries we like to corral them in. For example, not only has polymath Peter Blegvad, been a member of Faust, Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and the Golden Palaminos, but has loaned his talents to the likes of Andy Partridge, John Zorn and ex-Zep John Paul Jones.

He also happens to be the author of a long running cartoon strip for a national newspaper in the UK (the much missed Leviathan) and can credibly add painter, polemicist, lecturer, broadcaster and poet to his CV when he feels showing off a little bit.

And if all of that wasn’t enough he’s been quietly writing a bunch of witty, incisive, off-the-wall songs for several years.

Choices Under Pressure gathers together some of the best of them plus two new songs together in one place to give them an unplugged-style treatment.

With subtle support from Danny Thompson (acoustic bass), John Greaves (electric bass) and Jakszyk’s discrete embellishments on guitar, keyboards and percussion, Blegvad’s Dylanesque drawl of a delivery become the focus of the album. And rightly so. Listening to some his earlier albums with their dated or dodgy productions, Blegvad was sometimes in danger of being lost in the mix.

"Daughter" neatly expresses both the joy and the fear contained in talking to your children of child-rearing “Everything I say she takes to heart/Everything she takes she takes apart”, whilst Scarred For Life evokes the deadly attraction of a destructive relationship. “We Walked arm and arm in madness and every little breeze/whispered of the secret love we had for our disease.”

"King Strut" offers an extraordinary tale about a mysterious Kane-like character underpinned by Danny Thompson’s swaggering bass and an unrelenting hookline. Standing like a TV reporter on the edge of some great event the singer deadpans “Now a man without a moral code is just an appetite/King Strut was on a diet growing luminous by eating light.”

The clarity of Jakko Jakszyk’s sparse production serves Blegvad’s idiosyncratic and eccentric stories especially well. The heart-breaking tale of "Gold" is left to camp-fire guitars to gently pick through the haunting melody whilst the bigger guns of drums and a rolling electric bass line are fired off on "God Detector", making it the most uptempo track on the album and the nearest you’ll get to rock.

Here a chancer searches for the divine in a house of ill-repute. The results are touching and funny – a combination which Blegvad has off to a tee.

This is a beautifully warm album and a superb celebration of a genuine original talent who refuses to be penned in.

Stand out track: "Gold"

Largo by Bill Rieflin & Chris Connelly

The Odd Couple
With his superbly quirky solo record, Birth Of A Giant and the instrumental tour de force of Repercussions Of Angelic Behaviour (arguably the best album the King Crimson’s ProjeKct’s never did) under his belt, Bill Rieflin has teamed up with Chris Connelly for a delightful album of otherworldly songs.

Known for his time in Ministry and collaborations with Jah Wobble and Jim O’ Rourke, it’s Connelly who provides the pleasantly woozy vocals that drift and scrape between the octaves of these sparse and occasionally beautiful tunes.

There's a wry humour present in many of the tracks but the gorgeously off-kilter “Pray'r” comes in on top with its sardonically unsteady piano, shuffling groove and climbing strings. Similarly Connelly's deadpan delivery of the histrionics of Wake 2 raises a supportive smirk as does the breezy, cheesy, carefree summer travelogue sounds of Rondo.

On Wake 3, Connelly articulates that dread feeling that everyone probably has from time to time – that we'll wake up from a night of troubled dreams only to discover that we've metamorphosed into David Bowie. They play it straight long enough however, to provide an effective rendition of John Cale's heartfelt lamentation, Close Watch in fine style.

Throughout the album, they receive glorious support from the gifted Fred Chalenor on flowing bass (one of the talents and energies behind the excellent Hughscore) and a string section which adds a cosy lustre.

Several pieces stray into minor-key territories explored by the likes of Michael Mantler, Carla Bley and Robert Wyatt. Here the songs acquire a ponderous grandeur despite only drawing upon a minimal set of motifs and themes. Rieflin's use of woebegone organ lines to describe the stark outlines of lonely tunes somehow making their cover of Robert Wyatt's Sea Song a fitting and inevitable conclusion.

Heavy ConstruKction by King Crimson

Where dinosaurs fear to tread.

Given the prog excesses of yesteryear you might be forgiven for a swift rolling of the eyes when you read that King Crimson have just released a live triple CD set. But before you start worrying about bombast, arcane lyrical imagery and more Roger Dean than the naked eye can bear, the good news is that the only concept on offer here is value for money and some genuinely startling music.

Whilst many bands of a certain age have opted for cash-cow reunions and greatest hits package tours, Crimson have always ploughed a darker, more dangerous groove.

Fripp continues to be one of the UK's best kept secret guitar legends. His capacity to generally savage the living daylights out of a musical opportunity remains as sharp as ever though in this Crimson he’s a more discreet presence than he once was.

This Crimson lets rip with long-standing Crim-vet Adrian Belew burning the air with his growling, yowl-style guitar. He's ably abetted by relative newcomers, touch guitarist Trey Gunn and drummer Pat Mastelotto, who whips up a bewildering salvo of digital percussives and samples giving the band a leaner, dn'b / flavour.

The first two CD's chronicle Crimson's most recent European tour with most of the material largely consisting of a punchy, visceral (and consequently more thrilling) rendering of their last studio album, The Construkction Of Light.

In addition to this metal-edged aural souvenir, the second CD also contains video footage of the band in action. The third CD is given over to an electrifying assemblage of live improvisations detailing Crimson's continuing love affair with the unexpected.

It's this kind of cussedness which has taken them to the outer edges of critical approval and mass commercial appeal. But for those who are prepared to put some effort into their listening, this is an exhilarating snapshot of a band continuing to embrace evolution.

Delta Flora by Hughscore

Teaching an old sliding dog new tricks.

Recorded in two separate studios – Delta in the UK and Flora in the States – this is the third collaboration between Portland-based team, bassist Fred Chalenor and keyboards/vocalist, Elaine di Falco, (best known as Caveman Shoestore) and Canterybury sound legend, Hugh Hopper.

Trippy, often hippy and occasionally spaced out in the nicest possible way, Hughscore contrive to create a groovy jazz-tinged psych-rock that never quite existed in the late 60s but sounds like it could have.

Fans of Hopper’s back catalogue will want to know that they tackle “Facelift”, the monolithic epic from Soft Machine’s Third. On Delta Flora those angular sonorities have been reshaped and moulded to flow more evenly across Tucker Martine’s fizzing drum sample to give the old beast a new lease of sprightly life.

"Was A Friend" from Robert Wyatt’s Schleep (co-written with Hopper) is given a Hughscore makeover in which the fidgety, nervous energy of the original is transformed into a darker, cavernous dub-lined space. At its centre, Elaine Di Falco’s unhurried vocal hovers in stark, intimate contrast to the drifting dance-hall ambience of Craig Flory’s tenor sax.

Though Hopper’s name undoubtedly has a greater currency and potential appeal, this is not a one-sided fuzzfest by any stretch of the imagination. There’s some top quality writing from the youngbucks. Elaine di Falco’s up-close sensuous purr on “November” demands and gets attention.

The cyclical sing-song shuffle, "Based On" is infectious in the extreme with Fred Challenor’s bass bubbling underneath Canterbury-style organ riffs, Hopper’s flanged incursions and velveteen brass/wind arrangements.

It’s not all Softs-focussed. They let their collective freak flag fly on the punchy "Ramifications" whilst the punning "Robohop" plummets into Paul Schutze-style subterranean probing – deep, dark and down there.

The portly tones of real Fender Rhodes piano on "Tokitae" evoke a misty-eyed nostalgia, closing an album of sunny languor whose dream-laden grooves soothingly insinuate and percolate long after its fade-out. Close your eyes and its vintage stuff; homage for sure but without recourse to retread or kitsch parody.

Stand out track: Remind Me

You Are Here...I Am There by The Keith Tippett Group

Young Turks Go For It
Justifiably lauded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, Keith Tippett’s talent as a composer of lyrical warmth has often been overlooked in favour of his considerable firepower at the keys.

Recorded in 1970, at a time when jazz in the UK had only recently begun to walk unsteadily in its own distinctive UK and European direction, Tippett and his colleagues were determined to carve their own niche within the movement.

Not entirely helped by its thin (i.e. cheap) Giorgio Gomelsky production, the disc nevertheless features some vintage Elton Dean soloing and fiery contributions Mark Charig on cornet and Nick Evans on trombone.

Though Tippett turns in some incisive and telling moments on acoustic and electric piano, it’s really his position as a composer which gives him the authority here.

The graceful This Evening Was Like Last Year which opens and closes the album is an ornate piece with extended orchestration and punchy arrangements. When all the band are in full flow on I Wish There Was A Nowhere, it’s reminiscent of Facelift from Soft Machine's Third. Not surprising really as Elton Dean gives a bravura performance which will be familiar to fans of the Soft’s brand of early jazz-rock.

The album only sounds the weakest when they wander into some self-consciously rockist playing which sounds forced and unconvincing. Thank You For The Smile veers suddenly into a rather clunky blast of Hey Jude that neither swings or rocks with any conviction.

Often overlooked in favour of the following album, Dedicated To You But You Weren’t Listening, despite its weaknesses this is a solid album that showcases the fire in the belly of these young turks still in their early 20s with something to prove.

Standout track: Violence

Blast by Centrozoon

To ambiguity...and beyond!

What is with the Germans and the synthesiser? From Tangerine Dream Kraftwerk and Can, these Teutonic knob-twiddlers have wielded the sine wave like a scythe through our consciousness and they show no signs of slowing down with their sonic assault.

The latest in this long line of existentialist cosmic toe-tappers is a duo called Centrozoon. Featuring Markus Reuter on Warr guitar (an off-shoot of the Chapman Stick) and Bernhard Wostheinrich on synth, Blast is their first album for the electronica label DiN.

Unlike many of their predecessors, there are no heavily regimented sequencers or crashing drum machines crunching four to the floor of the Berlin School. This kind of Blast is altogether more subtle, a passionate music pulsating with an inner light.

There are few signposts in the way of rhythms or solos to be found on the album. Instead each track is a collaboration of equals, where Reuter and Wostheinrich meld their respective sonic palettes to create a work of considerable poise.

In this quest for balance they display an almost painterly concern for the use of space, tone and colour. Each aspect assiduously compiled and compacted, with luminous motifs and phrases sweeping up through the rich layers before fading away.

It’s this ambiguity which paradoxically lends Blast its strength, ensuring that the listener remains intrigued and thus engaged - part of the overall process rather than separated from the proceedings.

Don’t be tempted to think this is tame ambient wallpaper. It’s not. There is a sureness of touch which ensures the music resonates vibrantly throughout each of its five tracks.

A work of maturing clarity from two fine young players.

Standout track: Blast