Though it certainly has its' moments, your reviewer finds THICK PIGEON'S 1984 debut album "Too Crazy Cowboys" a rather frustrating affair, with several interesting tracks usurped by a slew of whimsical, impenetrable ones.
So, to discover the strange NYC duopoly's second album, "Miranda Dali" (originally released by Crepuscule in 1991) is more than a pleasant surprise where this writer is concerned, as it's a much more consistent, attractive pop affair, which - even allowing for some oblique angles - makes far greater sense as an entity.
Based around the mercurial talents of Stanton Miranda (bass, vocals, songwriting) and Carter Burwell (keyboards, percussion, arranging), Thick Pigeon were a loose aggregation, seemingly prone to getting sucked into other projects, with Burwell initially having drifted away after "Too Crazy Cowboys" through the lure of soundtrack work. His CV makes impressive reading, with credits for "Being John Malkovich" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" amongst others in recent years, but certainly it's good Miranda dragged him briefly back into the Pigeon fold for "Miranda Dali" as it's by some way superior to their debut.
Opening track "Riding" immediately draws you in. Although it's hardly linear chart fare, it's brooding, atmospheric pop of sorts, topped off by Miranda's sing-song vocals and threatens to unhinge nicely towards the end.
Great start, and it's not squandered as the album progresses. Tracks like "One", "Gerty" and "Wrong" all show the pop slant of that first track was no fluke and all have fascinating agendas. "One" is weirdly effective electro-pop with a reggae lope; "Gerty" starts off tricksy and percussive but hits an off-kilter pop groove with a nagging musical hook and "Wrong" sounds like a strident sister track to "Riding."
All of these are convincing, but even when t'Pigeon wig out, they still enthrall here. To this end, witness "Amerika", which finds Miranda keening "Let's ring up Satan and ask him to come downstairs and join in the fun" over a ghostly underbelly of dub, while "Bird" runs on a marimba loop with a definite Far Eastern feel and Peter Hook-style bass lunges from Miranda. Add "L.D"s melancholic, comedown pop (with added tabla from Burwell) and the big keyboard crescendo of the final credits in "St.G" and you've got something pretty close to a lost classic.
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As ever with LTM, there's a generous smattering of bonus tracks. These are mostly culled from singles and tracks given to compilations from the band's early '80s incarnation, and while there's some deadwood (notably the terminally irritating tone poem "Woodentop Talk"), there's also some further gems in the shape of the truly creepy midnight crawl of "Sudan", the clammy skank of "Tracy & Pansy" and the disturbingly insistent "Dog."
Cinema has proved an alluring pull for both Stanton Miranda and Carter Burwell since the making of "Miranda Dali", with Miranda also involved in projects featuring directors such as Jonathan "Silence Of The Lambs" Demme and Michael Shamberg and Burwell involved with the soundtracks to every film the Coen brothers have made to date. However, there's talk of new material from Miranda, so one can only hope the silver screen has not permanently claimed them as the strength of material on "Miranda Dali" suggests that if Thick Pigeon can flock together for a third time it'll be worthwhile.
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