| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Lie | | | | | |
| 2. Cape Catastrophe | | | | | |
| 3. Slick | | | | | |
| 4. Hex | | | | | |
| 5. Barrio | | | | | |
| 6. Tunnels | | | | | |
| 7. Thin Line | | | | | |
| 8. Symphony In F Major | | | | | |
Many progressive fans will remember Percy Jones from his work with Brand X and Brian Eno in the 1970s and early '80s. During these years, Jones made a name for himself with a trademark fretless bass sound, invariably adding flavour to the tracks he appeared on (check out Eno's "Energy Fools The Magician" and "Over Fire Island" for examples of this sound in an austere setting). Some fans might also be aware of Jones's role as leader of the reformed Brand X in the 1990s.
I suspect, however, that far fewer people are aware of his solo career. Between XCommunication (1992) and Manifest Destiny (1997), Jones released three separate albums under his own name -- Percy Jones With The Tunnels (1993), Cape Catastrophe (1996) and Propeller Music (also 1996). From someone who had always remained aloof from such projects in previous years, this level of output in such a short time is quite impressive.
So why haven't more people paid attention? I'm not completely sure - but if the other two works are anything like Cape Catastrophe, I have a pretty good idea.
Cape Catastrophe is, first and foremost, a "bass player's album". This does not simply mean that it's a solo album by a bass player, of course -- it means that it's an album BY a bass player, FOR bass players (and people who like listening to bass guitars). If you (the reader) are a bassist, there's a good chance that you'll enjoy this album. If you're not a bass player, but you still like reading Bass Player magazine for monthly updates on your favourite stars, there's an equally good chance that you'll enjoy this album. But if you enjoy through-composed tracks more than instrumental showcases, you can probably stop reading now; there's not much here that will interest you.
Bass Player magazine often gives out two distinct ratings for albums: one for the bass performance, the other for the album as a whole. Cape Catastrophe is one of those albums that this system was made for -- while the bass performances are excellent throughout, the backing tracks are generally a bit shakier. Jones handles the keyboards and drum programming himself, and while he's not terrible at either, he's clearly not a virtuoso arranger. In fact, there's one section of unaccompanied bass solo (in the middle of "Thin Line") that's good enough to make you wish he had left his synths unpacked for more of the recording time. The keyboard lines are half-decent in and of themselves (Jones also plays synths in the new Brand X), but often cheapen the overall sound quality. Since this album is clearly meant for bassists, one might reasonably wonder why he bothered with them at all.
Things aren't all bad on this front, though -- there are some tracks with left-field accompaniments to back up equally left-field bass lines; first and foremost in this category is "Barrio", the 23-minute showcase at the centre of the album. The bass line actually meshes well with the synth drums here, and the keyboard bits stand out on their own. As to the bass line: it's excellent, incredibly good at times. (Of note also is a spoken-word radio sample from the cold war era, and muffled vocal effects vaguely akin to "Noddy Goes To Sweden".)
"Thin Line" (with an opening note akin to that of "Kurt's Rejoinder") is another highlight, mostly for the accompanied section already mentioned above. The tempo is a bit slower here than elsewhere, though the bass line is equally "busy" -- a nice mix. The arrangement ... strangely, reminds me more of solo Andy Summers than anything else.
The two opening numbers aren't quite as good. "The Lie" have a strong bass line (of course), and a "nightmare jazz" feel akin to that of classic Brand X; the cheap synth effects are a real drag, though. "Cape Catastrophe" (with a Radio Australia lead-in), for its part, suffers from the classic curse of the CD age -- having more space to work with means that artists can be tempted to throw in a few "lulls". The good parts are quite good, but there's a lot of repetition here.
"Slick", despite the title, is actually a fairly evocative number, and gets a few points for reprising the "Cape Catastrophe" lead melody in an altered form. "Hex", for its part, is nothing at all like the sultry jazz that the name might imply -- instead, it's a quirky number akin to Frank Zappa's late fusion works, and with a really good bass line toward the end. Lest one think that Jones was being completely contrary with his titles however, it should be noted that "Titles" is a deeper, more probing work than many others on the album, with an edgier bass effect.
And then there's Jones's take on Thomas Arne's "Symphony In F Major" (composed at a time when the symphony was actually a fairly new thing in the world of professional music). Jones seems to be more focused on keyboards than bass for much of this track (some hot organ licks appear on occasion) -- in general, this counts as a jazz-up pastiche of the original, though not a bad one for that. Prog listeners who've cringed there way through Keith Emerson's ouevre shouldn't be overly offput by this.
There's no great mystery as to the intended audience for this work. If you think you fit the bill, step on up.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 19 Mar 2001)