Grandmaster Gareth - The Party Sounds Of Grandmaster Gareth

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 18 / 7 / 2006

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Review

Misty’s Big Adventure creator and leader Grandmaster Gareth returns with a second album of his "minute melodies". His first solo record, ‘An Introduction to Minute Melodies’, released in 2003 on Awkward Records, was championed by John Peel, with the track ‘Dr Dre Buys A Pint of Milk' reaching number 45 in the Festive Fifty. Now, the Grandmaster is back, this time on SL records, also home to Misty’s. ‘The Party Sounds of Grandmaster Gareth’ carries on where the first record left off, with another 30 tracks of minute long snatches of genius created from toys, samples, brass sections, keyboards, organs and animal impersonators. This is quite simply, a fun record, a record to entertain yourself with or lift your spirits when you’re down. The track titles alone raise a smile; ‘Oh No! B-List Celebrity’, ‘Hypnotic Sponge’, ‘Malaria, It’s Not Cool’ and ‘The Really Rubbish Super Heroes’ (a particularly class track) give you some idea of what I’m talking about. Quite often, the tracks sound like the soundtrack to a bizarre 1970's kids’ TV show, with the sort of bumpity-bompity jolliness that might accompany a poorly animated man making a mess of some stupidly simple task like getting dressed. Grandmaster Gareth loses none of the manic fun of Misty’s Big Adventure when he ventures out on his own. In fact he might be slightly more manic without his band mates, and quite marvellous it is, too. To put it simply, 'Minute Melodies' are the perfect soundtrack to all your pocket parties – go buy!

Track Listing:-

1 ignition
2 grandmaster of the universe
3 forgotten the fish
4 hypnotic sponge
5 problem
6 i assume full responsibility
7 he made it himself
8 the party sound of gareth
9 the really rubish super heroes
10 the harmoanium
11 switch it on
12 on no! b-list celebrity
13 knucklehead
14 party pooper
15 a minute in time
16 take the strain
17 boat party
18 just for the taste of it
19 the sound of speed
20 sue me
21 on no! animal impersonator
22 beagle 2
23 what did you do in the war daddy?
24 malaria, it's not cool
25 this sounds like orange
26 disco-op
27 how about heaven?
28 the gate crasher
29 how about hell
30 that concludes our entertainment
31 monster melody