all things blurt!

‘Where’s The Blue Gone?’ is drum-led with a constant, 4/4/,4/8 translation of the rhythm going right the way through the track, which adds ear-candy to this beautifully worked track. The vocals are again weirdly wonderful with lines like, ‘ Lenin weighed 6000 tons and his index finger was 6 meters long’ but who cares about facts? The music is pure and energy incarnate there is so much truth in the sound, the words become meaningless, used largely for their rhythmic and aesthetic qualities to enhance the music. There is a lovely sweet spot where the vocals and drums interact to create an empty, spacier place before the guitar works in again. Absolutely wonderful.
‘Stella By Arc Light’ starts with drums, setting up the rhythmic background onto which the music scape is carefully crafted, first guitar, then a bit of vocals, then a bit of perfectly off-key sax and the guitar builds from background to forefront, finally creating the wonderful sound landscape of the track. This is art, this is music and this is completely something else. The use of harmonics is verging on the exquisite and Milton’s soaring on sax, his placement of the notes, which jar, and those which blend is nigh on miraculous.
‘Fresh Meat for Martys’ begins with a funky beat, gentle and swaying – until the sax enters and makes you smile with its discordance and perfectly off-beat notes.  Ted’s style is so loose at times, there could be two Saxes and his ear for placing flattened blues notes is extraordinary. 

The vocals include lines like, ‘So I swivel my crutch and squeeze off a round and the crowds part screaming’, “People before Prophets, Fresh Meat for Martyrs.”  Nice. 

This track develops and evolves as it plays out. The sax sees the track out, fading into its own musically dyslexic maelstrom. Wonderful. ‘Oh Look Who’s Out On Parole’ begins with instrumental from the band, sax over drum and guitar creating a deep, dark atmosphere before the vocals speak of the trading in of the soul for drink, drugs and despair. The relentless drums, the soaring, searing guitar notes, the rasping, skin-singeing, angry vocals from Ted Milton and the final section of unfettered, free rolling sax playing before the almost incoherent final explosion from the voice lift the atmosphere of this track someplace else.
‘Listen To Me Shirley’ is sung over a constant rising and falling rivulet from the guitar – hard working and  in competition at times with the totally glorious sax but it is that rhythmic riff which keeps emerging, settling the rhythm and keeping the track together. ‘Female Thugs with latex gloves, The Frog swallowed the Chevy Impala’ go the words at one point and in this world of maniacal music where sounds are turned inside out and upside down it is possible to believe. Milton’s high notes on sax could strip paint at 30 paces – glorious!

 

 

Continuation