Customer Reviews

The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories

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Despite author/illustrator Edward Gorey's eminence in American popular culture, Michael Mantler's inspired treatment of Gorey's darkly comic poetry has eluded the audience it deserves. Performed by a stellar ensemble featuring Robert Wyatt on vocals, Carla Bley on keyboards, Terje Rypdal on electric guitar, Stephen Swallow on bass guitar, and Jack DeJohnette on drums, "The Hapless Child" clocks in at a brief but utterly enthralling 34 minutes. Wyatt is startlingly well-cast, his thick British accent redolent of the macabre, his airy, high-register quail suddenly shifting into a chilling tremelo unheard elsewhere in his work. In hindsight, Gorey's themes of child exploitation and Victorian decadence dovetail neatly with Wyatt's anti-imperial politics. (In a late `80s interview, Mantler expressed frustration with the fact that Wyatt's contribution to Mantler's 1988 album "Many Have No Speech" was curtailed by Wyatt's refusal to recite any poetry he considered politically incorrect.) Bley wrests an array of fearful atmospheres from her string synthesizer, while Rypdal's stinging leads seethe with an air of encroaching disaster. Mantler's sweeping, cinematic arrangements may be the most rock-oriented work of a career spanning jazz and classical composition. A perusal of Edward Gorey's 1972 anthology "Amphigorey" (in which the six tales are collected) reveals the artist's own illustrations as but pale shadows of the dire imagery these musical interpretations conjure in the listener's inner eye. --Michael Draine

This is an odd, painful yet quite wonderful telling of unique stories by Edward Gorey. The music is so well done, it actually blends the lyric/story into a perfect concoction. Robert Wyatt simply was perfect for this immensely dark production.

The recording is quit impressive also. Along with fabulous guitar work of Terje Rypdal, the band brings to life (through Mantler's masterful compositions!) the tales of dark reward.

One might wonder if the talented Mr. Mantler might try a progressive rock based album again? One can only hope so, as this is a prime example of English compositional skills and performance, driven by an American writer of the dark side of humanity. Sort of reminds me of someone else perhaps?

I was first introduced to this record(Record? What's a record?)back in college radio days. It has stuck with me ever since and was greatful when it was re-release on CD about a decade ago. It still holds up. Not to be played for the kiddies, unless they've been very naughty. Just don't introduce them to the Insect God.