Jude Montague is one individual who’s not let a global pandemic interfere with her working or creativity. While continuing to occupy regular slots on Resonance FM, a Crumpsall Riddle album emerged in April of 2020, followed by a vinyl pressing of her 2018 collaboration with Matt Armstrong, ‘Hammond Hits’. The pair have now reconvened to deliver more organ-orientated tunes in the form of ‘Organ Greats’.
We’ll get any snickers about the title over with before proceeding further: it’s true that at 46 and with a doctorate, there’s still a part of me that’s still fifteen and amused by Beavis and Butthead, and so here we are, presented with a great organ.
Also, while the job here is to reflect on the music – because book, cover, etc. – I’m particularly pleased to be holding a copy of the CD here, because it’s a really nice object. Not only does the black grooved disc replicate – in miniature – the vinyl experience, but the printed label and the cover art evoke private pressing releases; the front cover has a retro feel with a slightly washed-out pic of the pair surrounded by old gear and a decapitated doll, while the reverse is simple, functional, with a typewriter-style font listing the tracks and running times, and the contributors. The lack of flashiness, the absence of slick-looking contemporary design and print styles is an integral part of the experience, and sets the mood for the music.
Once again, the duo have contrived to conjure a remarkable easy listening experience that’s pure vintage. It would be easy to be convinced that ‘Organ Greats’ was an album from the late 60s or maybe early 70s; the tunes, the product ion, it’s all there, and it’s magnificently realised.
There are no specific touchstone artists as such, and besides, comparisons are so often lazy journalistic shortcuts – to which I’m not entirely averse, bur Organ Greats is greater than that, encapsulating the sound of an era. Thye first of the nine (largely) instrumental compositions, ‘Festival of Saxifrage’ evokes the lilting joys of hippiedom, the summer of love, and blends with, well, all sorts, and not just parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, bringing a richly-scented herbal joy.
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Being brief, the pieces run into one another indiscernibly, with bass runs and electronic bleeps blurring the compositions together in a while of experimentalism and joy. ‘Dragonfly’, the album’s longest song, running to almost five and a half minutes, is mellow, breezy, and drifts in and out again on reminiscences of Stereolab, and ‘Summerfields’ breezes in on a faded tint. ‘The Collar’ bounces along nicely with some ascending chord sequences, and everything about ‘Organ greats; is nice and easy.
There’s a feeling of fun running though every track on here, making for an album that feels joyous and jubilant.
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