This collection as an album of out-takes and demos or songs left behind by The Brainiac 5 over the years with two thirds of the songs from the bands original Cornish line-ups and the last third by the Latter-day London based version of the band. This cd is mainly aimed at completist fans and is a little bit too rough and ready to win over any new fans to The Brainiac 5.
The first 6 tracks feature the original line-up of Bert Briscoe, Charlie Taylor, John Woody Wood and Steve Hudson with backing vocalists John and Carol Webster.
The opening song Spring Fever is a great slice of Bucolic Psych rock with slightly proggy edges and some monster guitar work and lyrics that are clever and as hippy as you'd like.
I Call Your Name is sort of slightly dubby psyche pop that sounds not unlike Patti Smith's Distant Fingers musically in places, it has a nice laid-back lilt to it.
Jet Fighter is a fairly terse and tetchy look at the role of Jet Fighters with the guitars trying to mimic the sounds of those jet engines, it's also pretty catchy.
Dancing in The Sun is pretty strange and full of mid-summer rituals and games to play during the rituals, this is out there hippy freak out time.
Khazi Persona is a rough and ready demo about someone who has a Khazi Persona and you really don't want to be around, this sounds like it could have been worked up into an angry punk single, but this demo is a good idea in need of polishing and not in the way you might polish a turd.
The first cover is a cool garage rock psyche welter through Tobacco Road you really need to be in a room with an oil wheel going, a couple of lava lamps on, some patchouli incense burning, to get the full effects on this, a real reason to get the cd. The stonking guitar freak out is what makes this cover for me.
Flying Tonight is the point where Charlie Taylor takes over from Bert Briscoe on Vocals and is the first of 2 songs recorded live at the White Horse in Launceston in 1980 and it has a lot of hiss on it that may just be the cymbal work, but it has that live urgency, they are certainly going for it and as ever it's what the guitars are up to that gets to me.
We then get a second cover this time of ELO's Do Ya that comes complete with audience members having a chat over the band as this rough and ready version of the song gets lost in the hiss, if you love old school cassette bootlegs covered in hiss then this will be the version for you.
|
I Feel Good is an urgent punk pop garage rock blast that in in the vein of say the Hammersmith Gorillas or something similar with good franticly mad guitars and drums.
The Warning is the last song with the original line up and the first recorded in London it has that very late 70's sound like they had seen John Cale's sabotage tour but wanted to sound like The Styrenes as they wait for that nuclear bomb to go off.
Pain In A Bowl is the only Wilderness years song being a Charlie Taylor oddity recorded in America in 1995 and it's a funky jam with a slight No Wave edge to it and an influence of maybe Prince in places, this is ripe to be sampled and put into a dance tune.
The first tune of the re-formed age is Sludge recoded live at the band's residency at The Gunners pub in 2019 and it's a Hendrix heavy psyche rock blast like they want to be back in 1968 and damn Mad Dog's guitar mangling is in full flight.
Never Say Never is an acoustic demo with Bert Briscoe back for one last tune, this is reflective and also rather eco aware with a bit of a Bert Jansch influence on the guitar playing.
Another Time Another Dimension is like a short form history lesson on the band's life and times and other snatches of life it sounds a bit like Kevin Ayers Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes but in many ways far stranger than that. It also has about the highest production's values on the album, and still sounds pretty raw.
Our Devils closes the album with a slightly off reggae psych song that sounds like they are on the mushrooms again and think they know what's going on, it's as weird and out there as anything else on the album and well if you're already a hard-core fan of The Brainiac 5 you'll love this album, I'm just not sure I'd advice it as a starting point. The album has an acoustic blues bonus song on it that lasts less than a minute as an outro.
Find out more at www.brainiac5.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/TheBrainiac5
|
