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This is an album that
deserves to be liked more than I did. Everything that I’d look for is present
and correct it just doesn’t quite all hang together as much as I’d hoped.
Perhaps it’s the frequently occurring problem that occurs when an artist realises that his
recording opportunities are limited and wants to essay a range of styles. Often
this works to make a strong, wide-ranging album showing off all of their
strengths; sometimes it doesn’t.
It starts well in a solid groove from the get go on O’Winston. Its rolling funk driven by Glasgow’s bass. Preston’s Scofield-esque playing works against Downes’ shards of notes. Electric guitar doesn’t always work well with acoustic piano but it does here. The two instruments coil around each other, swapping solos and each provoking the other. It greatly under-stays its welcome.
Casino
Dream hits a similar groove after a bubbling start. It’s
more open and spacious with an 80s' optimism to it. It’s a swinging urban funk
with Downes pointillist on keys mixed in with a muscular backing from Rochford
and Glasgow. This is followed by Urtext,
which slows down proceedings. It’s an interlude of chords and minor
embellishments; fragile late night music.
Purple/Black builds on Urtext but adds weight and gravitas in its slower pace. Rochford contributes great clunking blows on the drums and eschews cymbals; Downes fills all the gaps on Hammond and adds a few piano frills as well. Preston plays little beyond a few power chords and sustained notes.
Blues for Klemens sees
more sustain as it opens with a few delicate notes from Downes on piano to
break up a frozen landscape. Rochford provides funeral drums in the distance as
the piece slowly grows but loses none of its tension. Prison Lullaby feels like another interlude. It’s tight and
oppressive, built around Rochford’s heavy, but spare drums; delicate piano is over-washed
with guitar scratches and abrupt power chords.
I wonder if the delicate
guitar notes on Shades of Shibuya are
intended to evoke a Japanese samisen. Downes is equally spare on the piano; a
rolling, repeated melody with few embellishments. It’s weightless. Similarly, I
wondered if VHS Poem was intended to
evoke the repeated urban images in Gregory Reggio’s 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi, famous for its Philip
Glass soundtrack. Glasgow provides an insistent pulse on bass and, for much of
this piece, there is relatively little contribution from the front line.
Closer Susie Q’s (no relation to the CCR track)
is a resigned, melancholy, blues waltz. There’s a lovely romantic piano solo
from Downes and Preston’s guitar sings out forcefully. Rochford rolls along
steadily in the background. The last minute has real heft to it as the players
challenge each other but this fades too early to the close and that is perhaps
the problem with an album of ten tracks in 40 minutes. Allowed more time in the
studio or on the bandstand, with a little more air beneath them, I can’t help
thinking these pieces could really take flight. Having said that, I am
intrigued enough to welcome Purple/Black
Vol. Two when it hits the racks.
Purple/Black
came
out last year and is available from all the usual outlets. Dave Sayer
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