10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wow... I think.... Yup.... Definetly wow... I think...., July 8, 2002
This review is from: Concubine Rice (Audio CD)
An amazing, seriously lo-fi, journey to the center of this guys head. It's got mad pop sense caught in a swirl of hiss, barely heard sounds, and multi tracked vocals. It's more like a project tape than an album proper, but I think it succeeds more because of it. Piano ballads, guitar sing-alongs, introspective late night ambient meditative drone-songs, some masterful dubbed out strangeness. As a songwriter, he's got a bit o' Lennon, a fair bit of LSD soaked Syd Barrett, some Brian Wilson, and an occasional heap o'McCartney, the good part mostly, but on one track, "O Catherine," it's too close to bad Sir Paul saccharine schlock - think "Martha My Dear" from the White album gone bad. The album works as a whole, no doubt. There is a lot of press concerning his "brilliance" and I'm pretty sure that's very close to being true. I think. It's a head scratcher, for sure. I'm listening to it several times a day and around the 5th listen I think his brilliance really started sinking in. Difficult stuff, but ultimately rewarding.
I think you can really hear what this guy took with him when he left the Beta Band. (I'm almost certain he left the Beta's after they released the "Champion Versions" EP) I get the feeling he was the inspiration for the lo-fi bird chirping hand clapping drum kit in a trashcan for ever and ever and ever sound that they have since traded in for the beat-box thing. Their loss for sure.
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