Bob Drake - 13 Songs And A Thing

  by Andrew Carver

published: 3 / 8 / 2003

---

Often, when record labels send out a CD for review, it’s accompanied by a tipsheet where the label attempts to give a little history of the act and describe the music in question for the staff of whatever publication the CD is headed out to. Sometimes, the said tipsheet makes one wonder if the writer ever listened to the band. Sometimes they’re ridiculously overblown. Sometimes they’re completely incomprehensible. Sometimes (rarely) they’re  actually accurate (you people at Camera Obscura — you tryna’ put me out of a job?!?). And then there’s ReR.   I pity the writer at ReR Megacorp. I mean, imagine going into work and being told you have to make up a concise description of Ground Zero, Slapp Happy, or Faust ... any mortal would swiftly be driven insane. Which brings us to Bob Drake. “Bonnie Prince Billy meets Beefheart via the Beatles.” That’s it — the poor bastard’s finally snapped. (Alliteration is usually the first sign). But you can’t blame the writer. Personally, I’d say Drake’s music sounds like a chicken being chased by an SUV (I think the chicken escapes in the end). A guitar being thrown down a staircase, the first five seconds of David Bowie’s 'Diamond Dogs' an explosion in a flamenco dancer school, Tom Waits on a bender, a hoedown gone horribly wrong, an emergency phone call to the plumber, videogame saxophone, sleepy dragonfly, radio freakout ...  There’s some frenetically plucked strings in parts,  pots’n’pans percussion, some briskly strummed guitar, then some ominous, heavy chords (Drake does ominous very, very well). Things tend to speed up, then slow down, and fade out at unusual moments. So I wouldn’t say it’s “Bonnie Prince Billy meets Beefheart via the Beatles” — more like 'Times Ain’t Like They Used To Be' locked in an embrace with Mr. Bungle, plus bits of Finland’s Circle.  Or something.  Recommended to those who have bought other ReR releases, particularly Ground Zero and Faust, and anyone fond of oddness in general.

Track Listing:-

1 Chase
2 Foam II
3 Abandoned Thermal Estalishment Blues
4 Rtuuf
5 Ten For A Dime
6 Move The King
7 In Case The Insulator Fails
8 Griffin
9 Pechan And Willy
10 Spicules
11 Plinth Shriveller
12 Building With Bones
13 And The Sun
14 Foam I

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg