CURIOUS THINGS

Tinyfish - Curious Things

A new CD from Tinyfish - well actually, it's a collection of older, unreleased material and will do nicely to tide us over until the release of "The Big Red Spark". It has a more acoustic and electronic feel than the debut CD, with plenty of swirly sound effects - the excellent production is courtesy of Frost's Jem Godfrey (who, in case you didn't know, is the brother of Tinyfish main man Simon Godfrey).

Kicking off with The June Jar, we have some jangly guitars and some powerful drums from Simon Godfrey. There are a couple of stops which are disconcerting on first hearing, but this track has the feel of "Motorville" from the debut, as Simon himself admits, and also offers up a splendid chorus. A great way to start off.

"Ack Ack" is a snippet of conversation with an unknown American female and whilst on the surface is of little interest it is this kind of thing which, along with Rob Ramsay's spoken interludes, gives Tinyfish that extra "something" which sets them apart from other bands.

"She's All I Want" is a slightly poppy number with acoustic guitars and drum machines. I hope the band will forgive me if I say this reminds me of George Michael, but in a good way. This number manages to squeeze in a fish reference ("plenty more fish in the sea") and fish noises as well.

"Driving All Night" is a slower number with a memorable hook line, reminiscent of "All Hands Lost", and I can see this becoming a live favourite.

"Why VHF?" is the "epic" of the album, clocking in at over 8 minutes. Starting off with bubbly synth and drum machine, we are soon led into another splendid chorus. This is Simon's attempt to write a lyric "without meaning to see if anyone would fire back at me what they 'thought' it meant". Apparently a favourite from the band's old acoustic gigs, it does have a slightly spooky feel to it especially when it fades away before the drums kick it all back in again and a jazzy solo takes us to the end.

"Wrecking Ball" starts out like an acoustic version of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" but is actually about "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy is alone again because he was an utter tit". Starting off gently acoustic, it picks up in the middle and goes a bit Alanis Morissette before returning to the gentle for the ending.

"Cinnamon" apparently teaches you the secret of magic, but only if you're already a magician. Er, thanks guys. A lot of effects on the vocals add an extra dimension to this song and it all gets a bit manic towards the end. A great ending to the CD.

It would be easy dismiss this as a short filler CD (it's less than 30 minutes) put out to keep us happy until the next CD, but this is quality stuff, far superior to most modern prog. A very highly recommended release from the UK's best band.

Well what can i say other than apologise to the band for not reviewing this cd any earlier,i was having a conversation with a good friend with regards to increasing our reviews on the website when it was mentioned that i hadn`t reviewed any tinyfish albums,I sat their in disbelief for a moment and decided to put pen to paper to correct my embarrassment.

I have had more than a good chance to listen to the mini album of rare recordings over the past few months as it has been on constant rotation on my hi-fi and classic rock magazine seem to agree as the track cinnamon was at no.3 on their heavy rotation charts last month.

So the first track June June Jar starts off with an instant jolt highlighting superb guitar work and Simon Godfrey`s very distinctive,unique and very english vocals.I was unsure about this track when i first listened to it but it is definiltey one that repays you with repeated plays and has a rather excellent chorus.

Robert Ramsay the spoken word guru usually brings us the very odd and curious but it is Simon,Jem and Jim that bring us this snippet"Ack Ack",it is a conversation with an unknown american female,itis diffuclt to describe any more of this track as it needs to be listened to in the context of the album but it is certainly not out of place whatsoever.

She`s All i want is up next and Simon`s vocals yet again are at the forefront of this song,that is until about two minutes in when all sorts of effects are combined into the mix to produce a very poppy and quirky song along with some vocal gymnastics.

The next song "Driving All night" is one of my favourite songs of the album it reminds me of "fly like a bird" from their debut album. A slow burner of a song with simon`s best performance vocally and a gentle acoustic guitar soundtrack before the song takes on a new guise and makes a very powerful statement displaying the versatile songwriting skills with which the band are blessed with.

I love the title of this the next track "Why V.H.F and i had ever written a song i would have loved to call it this.This track apparently has no meaning and it was a cry to the audience to see if they knew what it all meant but we can get an insight from the bands website as simon states" it reminds me off when i listened to radio in the late 70`s and early 80`s and that is something i can also relate to and iam sure many othe people can as well.This 8 minute epic is a song that you will feel very alone with along with its electronic and atmospheric dreamy backing track,that is until the end of the song when everything is ok with the world and you have woken up from your confused sketched memories of the past.

So wrecking ball a very simple accoustic based backing track accompanies the lone vocal track of a lonely boy who has lost the love of his life,the track then explodes into life before returning to its comfortable restful place,simple but very beautiful at the same time.

Cinammon road another superb name for a track that teaches you the secret of magic,there is a kaleidoscope of wonderful colourations on this psychedelic looped masterpiece i dont know where to start or end with this but listen and you will know what i mean.

So Tinyfish with Curious things are probably as about as close as you will get to the new age of progressive rock whilst maintaining a quirky but very accessible soundscape.

An essential purchase for any progressive rock fan.

Available from www.tinyfish.org

Calling this an LP would be a joke. Calling is progressive rock would be an even bigger joke. What this album boils down to is twenty-nine minutes of sugary pop music that almost hurts my teeth.

"The June Jar" This decidedly pop song is okay, but has virtually no progressive elements with the possible exception of the bridge.

"Ack Ack" This throwaway track has people talking, laughing, and a female singing a line from James Taylor's "Your Smiling Face."

"She's All I Want" This song uses a blues chord progression, adds distorted, whiny vocals, and does the same thing for three minutes.

"Driving All Night" A pleasant but dreary acoustic song, this is one of the more enjoyable works, but again, there isn't really much to speak of.

"Why VHF?" The longest track begins with a bouncy electronic groove, bringing in the ebb and flow of a guitar and some calm, cool vocals. Ultimately, it's a track unworthy of its length, as it maintains the same beat throughout- I would call it high-quality Muzak.

"Wrecking Ball" This largely acoustic song belongs with the dross heap that is FM radio, especially with lines like, "I kissed you before you kissed me; I missed you before you missed me."

"Cinnamon" The final track is noisy, with buzzing vocals and really nothing inspiring happening. Loud drums end the track.

It's got potential, but it's not used.

Tinyfish is a relatively new prog rock band band from the UK. With the current release of (currently) two actual studio albums, and then... this..., they have been quite successful in putting themselves on the radar of the pop/prog scene. The music is a fusion of pop/rock, hard rock, and a light spritz of musical experimentation that we here like to call prog. On this album, the music is mostly this pop fusion, with a very electronic acoustic hip hop feel to it, rather than anything I really like. The album really isn't a studio album at all, having only 7 tracks and running less than 30 minutes. At first I was excited seeing only 7 tracks, for I was expecting some lengthy composition to polish off the play time, but I was rather disappointed. It seems that Tinyfish is good at making tiny(not so good)albums.

The June Jar is a simple pop rock song, with some catchy vocal melodies and some simple chord progressions and watered down rhythms. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard something similar to this on the local pop station or at a high school dance. Some hip hop beats and electronic sounds back the album and fill in all the cracks the acoustic guitar chords make. The song, overall, isn't really a strong opener, unless you're looking at this as a pop album.

Ack Ack is a useless 20 second track of some people making small talk. I mean seriously, why would you put this on an album?

She's all I Want is another pop rock song. Look at the title, and you can see why. This is an acoustic/hip hop/electronic "love" song. Now trying to make money in the music business is perfectly fine, but don't try to convince me that rubbish like this is prog in the least sense.

Driving All Night is a much needed break in the sequence. The song still has a huge pop rock feel, but the music is a little hip hoppy and a little more compassionate and emotional. It's still acoustic and rather boring, but has a slightly more creative and proggish twinge to it.

Why VHF? is actually a rather good track. Now it has some of the most prominent hip hop beats to it, but it also some of the most obvious prog influence to it. Clocking in at an amazing 8 minutes (gasp), the album is the longest on the album and has only a minor reason to be so. Although the lyrics really don't vary from "Why vhf? Tell me why vhf?" for around 6 minutes of the song, some interesting instrumentation and some creative guitar chords used. Overall it isn't the best track, but holds the album up.

Wrecking Ball is a whiny love ballad with some highly cheesy lyrics like "I loved you before you loved me" and "I kissed you before you kissed me" that really can make a real prog love cringe. The music is uncreative and atypical of all pop music on pop stations these days: Acoustic guitar chords, tambourine, and cheesy lyrics. Even when it breaks into some more rocking music, it's poppy, cheesy, and just plain old bad.

Cinnamon is, sadly, another pop rock song to end the album. It has the most electronic beats going for it. Some of the song does have an experimental feel and some interesting chord progressions, but overall it still boils down to sugary pop music. Some quasi- interesting interesting instrumentation makes the song almost interesting, but it's still the same thing repeating for 6 minutes.

ALBUM OVERALL: This is the true definition of pop/prog, but take out the prog. To call it prog would be extremely drawn out and almost a preposterous statement, and the same thing goes for calling this an LP. Most albums in the age of vinyl ran longer than this. The music is really just pop/rock with a slight twinge of experimentation in Why VHF?, which is weak anyway. Overall, a very weak album with barely prog twinge in it, even by Crossover standards. 1 star.