4 LITTLE BOYS

Here's a little piece of totally forgotten Cardiacs history. This AD NAUSEAM, not to be confused with the modern technical black / death metal band from Italy, was a short-lived band that was formed in 1989 by Jon Poole and Bob Leith who would go on to play in the Cardiacs. The story is one of true fans ultimately finding their dreams come to true and what started out as a mere tribute transmogrified into full membership into their absolute favorite band. I love me a happy ending.

AD NAUSEUM was formed in 1989 and resulted from Jon Poole's fascination with the music of Frank Zappa but somewhere along the line discovered the even more avant-garde charm of Tim Smith's Cardiacs and becoming an obsessive fan hooked up with Bob Leith and commenced to create a similar sounding band. The result was AD NAUSEUM that channeled all of those crazy aspects of the Cardiacs including the avant-prog knottiness, the frenetic zolo enthusiasm and the post-punk guitar heft.

Together with bassist Giles Rees and saxophonist Nic Fryer, this quartet only released a cassette only demo titled 4 LITTLE BOYS which came out in 1991 and most likely would have been doomed to the obscurity bins for the rest of time had Poole not attended the last Cardiacs concert in 1991 with the lineup that included guitarist Christian Hayes keyboardist William Drake.

After handing the band a copy of 4 LITTLE BOYS and its convincing Cardiacs second coming qualities, Poole slowly befriended the members and after a convinced Tim Smith gave his approval, Poole and Leith were invited to join the new Cardiacs lineup and would appear on the albums "Sing To God" and "Guns" before being kicked out of the band in 2004 by the Alphabet record label. Not a bad story for a couple of geeky obsessed fans only wanting to emulate their musical heroes.

4 LITTLE BOYS pretty much comes off as a tribute to the Cardiacs as it pretty much nails the classic sounds that Tim Smith and friends cranked out throughout the 80s ranging from the quirkiness found on "The Seaside" and "A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window" to sounds not associated with the Cardiacs such as the quieter moments that were more inspired by 1970s Genesis as well as the cheesy synth sounds and AOR saxophone parts most readily heard in some of the most commercial aspects of 80s smooth soul.

With 15 tracks, this cassette only release that is all but impossible to find except as a video on YouTube and is a convincing slice of Cardiacs inspired avant-prog zolo post-punk with symphonic and jazzy elements added. Having only reached the demo stage before Poole and Leith would join Cardiacs and in effect dissolving the band, this little relic is an interesting little historical artifact that i wouldn't deem essential by any means but a very interesting and oft enjoyable slice of the larger Cardiacs story.

Being a demo, this one has a crude production that obviously was meant to move on to a more robust mixing job had it not been pleasantly interrupted by the developments of real Cardiacs integration. The tracks are all originals with and a stealthy mix of inspirations that include the Cardiacs, Zappa, 70s Genesis, Madness type ska punk and a few other moments of nods to Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart and the cheesy aspects of 80s synthpop! Poole was the clear star as a multi-instrumentalist.

This is a fun release but there are several things i dislike. First of all, Cardiacs was animated not only by all those demanding instrumental workouts but equally by Tim Smith's unique vocal style and persona which took it to the next level and Bob Leith just didn't have the same charisma to bring the music to that level. Secondly, the drums often sound like cheesy drum machines not to mention of oft cheesy sounding keyboards.

Also the parts that nod to the worst sounds of the 80s keep this from being a smooth set of tracks from beginning to end. While i have no interest in seeking out an overpriced physical copy, this is certainly a mostly engaging album that should be of interest to all Cardiacs geeks out there as Poole and Leith for the most part did justice to the classic Cardiacs styles of the 1980s and obviously would've perfected these tracks had they been allowed to be taken to the next stage of production and fine tuning. As it is, an interesting little specimen but nothing to get ridiculously excited about either.