Birds of Avalon - Bazaar Bazaar

  by Andrew Carver

published: 3 / 5 / 2008

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You can find a lot of things in a bazaar; in the Birds of Avalon you’ll come across an interesting mélange of 1970s sounds that have been stirred into a remarkably fresh assembly by veterans of North Carolina’s rock scene. The best-known members of the Birds of Avalon are guitarists Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler. The married couple did time in riff-rockin’, double-drummin’ combo Cherry Valence; they’ve been joined by three seasoned hands from area bands like the Dynamite Brothers (drummer Scott Nurkin) and the Weather (singer Craig Tilley, whose past history with Siler and Kumar includes performing as an Alice Cooper cover band). While the Cherry Valence’s rock leaned toward the hirsute end of the 1960's (Ted Nugent was one comparison, Montrose and Mountain would also fit the bill), the Birds of Avalon have a more wide-ranging set of influences. To start with, Tilley’s vocals bring things forward a few years, shedding the gruff he-man style for a tone that lurks closer to Robin Zander of Cheap Trick or Dwight Twilley’s. As reflected in the band’s name, there are quite a few Brit-rock influences: The shuddering tremelo that kicks of ‘Bicentenial Baby’ owes a lot to freakbeat and psych rock, and the sitar inflected ‘Think’ would have happily resided on any of George Harrison’s earlier albums. The band still knocks out some chunky riffs: ‘A Horse Called Dust’ may have trotted out of Led Zep’s stables. ‘Set You Free’ riffs it up as well, with a particularly histrionic vocal turn from Tilley that suggests a few hours too many spent listening to Robert Plant. The galloping guitarwork of ‘Superpower’ might remind a few listeners of Urge Overkill. Proving again that the band isn’t content to update 1970's boogie rock, the band noodles a bit through the trip dreamscape of ‘Instant Coma’ and ‘Where’s My Blood’ (think ‘Ummagumma’ era Pink Floyd) and loads on the effects for ‘Taking Trains’. ‘Bazaar Bazaar’ is getting a second push (it was originally released a year ago) on the strength of the Birds of Avalon’s tour with the Raconteurs through Europe in May and June and a new EP, ‘Outer, Upper, Inner’. It’s worth checking out for its interesting combination of prog, powerpop and psychedelia.

Track Listing:-

1 Bicentennial Baby
2 Horse Called Dust
3 Instant Coma
4 Set You Free
5 Wanderlust
6 Taking Trains
7 Superpower
8 Where's My Blood?
9 Turn Gold
10 Think
11 Lost Pages From The Robot Repair Manual

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