Bill Wells and Maher Shalal Hash Baz - GOK

  by Jamie Rowland

published: 8 / 5 / 2009

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Review

I am a big, big fan of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s 2004 album 'Blues du Jour' (not sure if it’s still available anywhere, but if you come across it, pick it up!), so I was very excited to hear about this new record with Bill Wells being released. Essentially an instrumental album, it certainly retains plenty of the charm of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s previous work – a good number of the tracks sound like the closing music to a particularly cheesy American sitcom from the 1980s – I can imagine them playing over a montage of stills from the week’s episode. ‘Duck’, ‘Oddults’, ‘Liquorice Tics’ and ‘Banned Announcement’ are my favourites of these. I’m not always keen on instrumental albums, which is perhaps illustrated by my fondness for the few tracks on 'GOK' which feature vocals (and particularly the rather lovely ‘Cowtail Calypso’). Some of the other tracks are a bit more sombre, and while I don’t feel these retain my attention as much as the shorter, more upbeat tracks, I think there’s still a lot to like about them. At close to 6 minutes long, ‘Poxy’ perhaps outstays its welcome a bit, while the slightly “is that in tune?” nature of some of the arrangements might prove testing to some listeners. Overall though, I think GOK’s faults are outweighed by the positives, and the sense of ‘have-a-go’ fun which runs through all of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s music.

Track Listing:-

1 Rye And Guy
2 Tipsy Cat
3 The Dust Of Months
4 Duck
5 On The Beach Boys Bus
6 Oddults
7 Liquorice Tics
8 Poxy
9 Time Takes Me So Back
10 Family Sighs
11 Stabbed In Hamburg
12 The Williams Sisters
13 Cowtail Calypso
14 Banned Announcement
15 Wiltz / Water Bills Anger Wells Up

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/