REST OF THE WORLD

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.