King Biscuit Time - No Style Ep

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Regal
Format: CDS

intro

On his own The Beta Band's Steve Mason sounds stripped down. He gets to the core of the songs much more easily now, and while more importantly the contributions by other Beta Band members are regretf

On his own The Beta Band's Steve Mason sounds stripped down. He gets to the core of the songs much more easily now, and while more importantly the contributions by other Beta Band members are regretfully absent, they are not dearly missed. 'No Style' is what has been considered not worth including on the last Beta Band album, but then again I would not want to miss these tracks. 'Untitled' is a wonderfully disorientating sketch of a song, closer to the music of Thelonius Monk than to that on the original King Biscuit Time radio show. More in a Beta style is the melodic triphop of 'I Walk The Earth'. For an instance, you're tempted to believe Steve's a Northern soul singer. He is The Wanderer. Do trust the guy though, Steve's less eclectic on his own. There are less genre crossing acrobatics. It's got less style, but there are no stylish hick-ups either and he has a lot to show to us beyond the limitations of The Band. The four tracks, all of which he has written, are very different, and this is quite excellent.

Track Listing:-