North America

“Free-form jazz, gutbucket blues, the Broadway show stopper”. Amazing release of early 80’s NYC “out-there” jazz. One moment melodic and near traditional, the next scronking and “difficult”, the next funky wild a la Capt Beefheart. Band included the late great Tom Cora as well as guitarist Fred Frith. Impossible to describe this except to say its amazing. Pick any track (14-19 are live recordings).

1) chuggy rhythmic almost swampy capt beefheart feel, funky too
2) melodic hooky sax, urgent feel
3) sparser, trumpet mute
4) almost mellow
5) spacey and trippy guit
6) meandering mellow w/ spastic bursts
7) brief accordions
8) airy loopy min guit, echoey drums and strings
9) heavy bowed cello and strings, almost tribal turns bouncy jazzy
10) bouncy fun w/ changes and solos, undeniably funky
11) sparse, disjunct, no wave guit, feel
12) melodic hooky sax, strange wind sounds, slow-mid paced
13) sounds like a Dead song if you can believe that- folky swingy w/ Dead-ish strained voc harmonies
14) urgent passages, tight changes, mostly driving
15) funky rockin version, mid paced, killer cello and bass
16) funky melodic w/ crazy breaks, killer bass
17) slow swingy passages w/ bursts of mania
18) complex, free feel, drum/bass jams
19) swingy upbeat w/ outa control noise sax straight out of CBGBs 1977.