REST OF THE WORLD

Dave Newhouse and friends are moving a bit further away from the poppiness of their previous Canterbury association and more into experimental and avant jazz. This is most overtly on display in the attention-grabbing drumming coming from Sean RIckman.

1. "Catawampus" (7:32) multiple winds herald the opening of this song (and album) before moving bass and tight drums kick in to support the song's establishment. At 1:10 a baritone sax synth buzzsaw interjects its two notes into the equation (as the chorus?). Jarring but interesting. After the second "chorus" the song downshifts into a looser, more laid back pace within which electric guitarist Mark Stanley has a chance to show their chops. Then Dave shows off a more subdued organ solo before acoustic guitar and keys finish it off over decaying drum play. Interesting with new sounds and combinations but, overall, nothing too exciting or revolutionary. (8/10)

2. "Zed He Said" (4:22) Jerry King's simple, arpeggiated acoustic guitar chord sets the scene for Michele King's multi- tracked singing. Very nice melodies, friendly, inviting pace and structure, the instrumental mid-section is quite engaging and pleasant with some great melodies from the winds over the Vince Guraldi-like music. (8.5/10)

3. "Alchemist In The Parlor" (3:56) odd Beat-like song structure (to match the 1964 era of singer Carla Diratz's story?) turns mini-big band as the horns and keys bank together for the "chorus" sections between and after Carla's recitations. Fun music and song--kind of Jim Jarmusch-ish. Interesting story. (8.5/10)

4. "30 Degrees Of Freedom" (7:18) long introduction of keyboard rumbling and rolling as cymbols play turns into a smoother, more laid back and melodic piece at the two-minute mark. From that point on it is a very melody- oriented, two-chord groovin' song with drums and multiple horns and organ playing at complex harmonic chord play. Wailing electric guitar floats behind, panning around for a minute, before settling into a note-bending solo display in the sixth minute. Sounds really cool when the full ensemble of horns, bass tones, and keys are playing in full clutter behind. Sean Rickman is a madman! He must claim Keith Moon and The Muppets' Animal as influences! (9.25/10)

5. "Gonzalo's Paints" (2:42) very laid back, melodic, even bucolic full-band start eventually wends its way into very rich, cool, multi-track harmonies with a few instruments breaking off to solo here and there. Just a very cool, very rich tapestry, start to finish. (10/10)

6. "Miracle Walking" (3:14) three tracks (and later, more) of Dave's saxes weaving a kind of short-time rondo into chords. At the 90 second mark one sax veers off to go after a crazy free-jazz solo before returning to the fold just as the accordion makes it's debut. Nice construction! (8.5/10)

7. "Mini Hugh" (4:44) opening drum vamp as bass and, eventually, horns establish themselves. By the half-minute mark all have gelled into a steady jazz structure while the drums continue to be on full display. Sean Rickman can play! Organ, horn banks, and individual solos from alto sax, electric piano, fuzzed up bass guitar, and --all the while Sean keeps travelling over his kit as if he were on walkabout. I hear some John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Garrison in this music. (8.5/10)

8. "That Awful Sky" (4:49) kind of DAVID TORN (or ROBERT FRIPPertronics) and MAX ROACH/PAPA JO JONES meet STEVE REICH and PETER GABRIEL. Very cool, mesmerizing, haunting song. (9/10)

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of jazz fusion/progressive rock. The music on Rest of the World is interesting-- especially rhythmically, harmonically, and in its sound palette. It is diverse, melodic, deeply harmonic, and full of fun and even tongue-in-cheek jocularity. Highly recommended!

I was wondering if this Muffins offshoot band gonna have a follow up to their excellent debut. If Blue Dogs showed Dave Newhouse taking a big role in the album/band it is more evident here, a quick look at the album's credit will point out that this looks like more of a solo album from him. Billy Swann (Ex The Muffins) appears only on one track, Paul Sears (Ex The Muffins) which played drums on the debut is not on board this time instead we have about ten more musicians participating in the album including Bret Hart (not the wrestler...) Jerry King and William Jungwirth on which he collaborates with them on the excellent band Moon Man. I'm glad to see Newhouse does not follow the debut footsteps but continues to explore his ideas further more. While the debut was leaning more towards jazz this one is more progressive overall with an emphasis on Canterbury and avant garde, like a cross between Henry Cow's LegEnd, Caravan and Soft Machine. Dave Newhouse certainly knows how to make an album to sound so beautiful, his array of woodwinds like clarinet, tenor/alto/baritone and soprano sax, keys and piano complimented with bass and drums sounds so fresh and lively which is the canterbury music's trademark.

Catawampus, Zed He Said and That Awful Sky are three tracks designated for a Muffins album before the band dissolved. The album opens with Catawampus their progiest tune in the album, this is quite an eclectic ride as the song holds a few surprises and bears an interesting progression. Sean Rickman on drums really shines here, he's all over the place with an unexpected rock attitude giving those jazzy horns a real kick, as the contrast between jazzy horns and an angry fuzzy organ is built. Mark Stanley is doing a great job here with a cool quirky electric guitar solo and his acoustic noodling on the song's final part topped with beautiful keyboard chords, a canterbury heaven! Zed He Said is an acoustic piece said to be dedicated to Robert Wyatt. There's a quiet disturbing psychedelic touch here like an early melody by Caravan, soft keyboard sounds and acoustic guitar strumming lead the way with female vocals, it gets more upbeat later with drums. Alchemist In The Parlor is quite a weird piece, Carla Diratz from the band Diratz (which is another project of Dave Newhouse) writes the lyrics and performs heavy accented narration on this weird folk tune with minimalistic woodwinds rhythm, a violin, bells and percussion, it actually suits the vibe of the album in spite of feeling out of place at first. Except for those two tracks containing vocals the rest is instrumental. 30 Degrees Of Freedom is my favorite piece here along with the opener and Mini Hugh, piano and noisy distortions gets the ball rolling, it settles for Newhouse to have some fun with woodwinds, piano, keys guitars and a deep fat bass, this is good and it gets even better when it picks up and gets more intense with Sean Rickman's busy drumming and Stanley's guitar solo. Gonzalo's Paints is dedicated to Gonzalo Fuentes the man behind their album covers (yep haha) It's a short pastoral theme with serene atmosphere. Miracle Walking adds to the album's diversity, no drumming no bass only multiple layers of woodwinds and an accordion, very nice. Mini Hugh is dedicated to Hugh Hopper and for a good reason, it sounds like something out of Soft Machine's kitchen. The calm atmosphere wraps you up as you enter that pool but becomes much more beautiful once you dive in, Guy Seger's bass, Newhouse woodwinds and Rickman stunning drumming doesn't let you wanna leave the water, fantastic really! That Awful Sky is a unique spacious piece with a disturbing atmosphere played only with electric and acoustic basses, guitar and soft drum patterns, a beautiful ending to the album.

As much as I love the first album I think this is a little bit better, I guess it's something to do with the album being more canterbury oriented plus Rickman's drumming which kinda steals the show here. I sure do hope Mr. Newhouse comes up with another album soon because as of now it doesn't look like his out of ideas. His brilliant songwriting, arrangements and playing makes this beautiful sounding album a real winner. Easy 4 stars.