Sefelt - See (EP)

Twould be nice to think they're named after the character in Cuckoos Nest, but I don't know. Foraging away in the nonsensically named post rock forum, good words have been heading up from the beat that is Newcastle. This is their second release, and finds Sefelt heading towards the world of avant gardre jazz, by way of Tortoise. It's loud, it's quiet and it's very very good.

Doubling up on rhythm, there's two drum kits spidering away and an almost dub beat courtesy of the two bass guitars, Sefelt are at least making the effort to creat e something new and vital, and are well worth a visit. I'd be interested to experience the noise live, cos it seems that the freedom for improv is lurking away, waiting to be unleashed. Top qulaity, but don't bother with the website unless you want the slow painful process that is macromedia flash, uugh.

ROGER CHAPMAN - "Family and Friends" (boxed set)

There are not many singers with as distinctive voice as Roger Chapman- Joe Cocker is perhaps the most obvious comparison and both men put 'heart and soul' into their singing with Roger edging ahead in the song writing stakes. (He co-composed everything in Family)
This lavishly presented 4 CD boxed set (with a bonus 50 minute long fifth CD included with the first 1000 issued) comes complete with a comprehensive biography of the artist by Pete Feenstra and a Leicester City Football Club programme from 1972!
It also contains no fewer than 17 previously unreleased recordings over its 5 discs.
The first CD serves as a pretty good compilation of Roger's career with progressive rock band Family with the highly rated 1971/1972 LPs 'Fearless' and 'Bandstand' represented by 3 tracks each. I was particularly delighted to be reacquainted with old friends like 'Burlesque' (An all time classic single surely!), 'In My Own Time' (perhaps the best of the lot), 'Part of the Load' and the brilliant ballad 'My Friend the Sun'. I was also struck by the 'vaudeville' 10CC feel to 'It's Only A Movie' (By this time much of the band's astonishing creative power was ebbing away) Previously unreleased versions of 'Weavers Answer' and 'Procession/ No Mule's Fool' are merely the icing on the cake of more than an hour of vintage Family music
On disc two, Roger returns to his R&B roots (They were there in Family all right but less explicitly) As Pete Feenstra acknowledges in his sleeve notes, Roger's band at that time, Streetwalkers 'never came close to Family's creative output'.
Nevertheless, despite the poorer sound quality (perfectly listenable though!) the smouldering live version of 'Chilli Con Carne' is great fun. 'Best with red peppers on'- yeh! The live 8 minute long 'Run for Cover' from the 'Red Card' album is even better with its unexpected but memorable chorus at the end. There's a stirring version of Lieber and Stoller's 'I Keep Forgetting' (Also covered by Procol Harum on their 'Ninth' album) and a great live version of the gospel inflected 'Who Pulled the Night Down'. Roger is at his 'moanin' and groanin' best on 'Face of Stone' while, for completists there is a previously unreleased track 'Pills' with an early Streetwalkers line-up featuring Max Middleton, Ian Wallace and John Wetton.
Disc two encompasses a bewildering variety of styles- blues, barrelhouse boogie, rock, all used within Family of course but presented here in a more 'in yer face' straight ahead rock style.
Disc three starts with three covers performed by Roger's next band The Shortlist (which featured Geoff Whitehorn (particularly prominent on 'Let Me Down' and 'Ready To Roll') and Boz Burrell among others)- a Spencer Davis standard 'Can't Stand It', Chuck Berry's 'Downbound Train' and an excellent version of the Randy Newman song made famous by Three Dog Night 'Mama Told Me Not To Come'. There are also two songs from 1983's 'Mango Crazy' (This was also the year of Chapman's hit single 'Shadow on The Wall' with Mike Oldfield) and an ill advised cover of 'Zipah De Doo Dah' (Didn't Steve Miller also cover this with equally disastrous effects?) There are also a clutch of tracks from Roger's 1989 album 'Walking The Cat'.
Disc four takes us through to 1990's 'Kiss My Soul' album and, by now, Roger, is struggling to decide on a distinctive direction as he makes unlikely flirtations with South American rhythms (as on 'Hot Night to Rhumba' of course. Or perhaps I am simply getting jaded by now!) There is also a surprise version of Greg Lake's 'Lucky Man' that should have been left in the vaults.
On the bonus disc there are also cover versions, most notably a 7 minute version of Jimi Hendrix's 'Stone Free' played live with The Shortlist in 1981 and an impressive rendering of Mike Batt's 'Imbecile' complete with orchestra! There are 7 live tracks in total on the 5th CD spanning 1977 to 1984 with two from Streetwalkers.
Inevitably the quality will be uneven in a boxed set like 'Friends and Family' but credit must go to Mystic Records for an honest attempt to paint a comprehensive picture of an artist whose vibrato voice, honest, narrative style lyrics and compositional ability have attracted some outstanding musicians into his Streetwalkers and his Shortlist. There is a lot of genius on show here as well as a lot of earnest striving to carve out a musical existence in some dark times for music.
This superbly packaged, comprehensive boxed set is a fine tribute to an inspiring artist entering his sixtieth year.

Contact Roger Chapman Appreciation Society

Visit Roger's web site

Mystic Records

(Reviewed by Phil Jackson)

THE RABBIT'S HAT - "BBC & Related Acoustic Sessions"

I had been looking forward to hearing this 'unplugged' set from those friendly, talented and creative people of the Stone Premonitions label, Tim Jones and Terri-B, and I wasn't disappointed.
As well of renewing my acquaintance with some old songs like 'The Moon' and 'Orion' (originally on the 1996 Rabbit's Hat CD 'In Optic Mansion', revived on the eponymous Census of Hallucinations album in 2000 and available at last from the BBC session), I was introduced to new ones like 'Sara Jane' and the heartfelt plea against organised religious dogma, 'Church'.
There are 18 songs in all sung and played impeccably by Terri (percussion) and Tim (acoustic guitar) The apposite 'Riding The War', 'Ephemeral Fire' (also on Terri's recommended solo CD 'Wrap Me In Your Skin') and 'More Than Ashes, More Than Dust' (from The Rabbit's Hat very first CD 'Take Good Care'), the lovely ballad 'Heaven Sent' and 'Free Yourself' (originally on 'In Optic Mansion') and 'Mountain Climbing' are taken from the BBC sessions. The other songs are from various live performances mastered by Tim.
The songs that, for me, 'steal the show' though are 'Say Yes', a wonderfully inventive animal rights song and 'Lie Again', a typically candid (and infectious) 'go' at political deception I remembered from Census of Hallucination's 'The Third Eye'. The words that keep running through my mind allude to climbing a mountain a thousand times and still not seeing things clearly let alone resolving them- from 'Mountain Climbing' of course.
'BBC Sessions' is an ideal introduction to the music of The Rabbit's Hat- intelligent and challenging lyrics, great arrangements, if this CD doesn't touch you nothing will. If you're looking for an anodyne 'comfort zone' symptomatic of so much 'muzak' nowadays, forget it! By the way it's also well worth checking out Tim and Terri's work with the marvellous Body Full of Stars.
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(Reviewed by Phil Jackson)