THE STRAINGE CASE OF STEVE

I was really looking forward to this one although I knew from the only other two records I have by this band that it could be great or not so much. Those would be "Ridin' On A Bummer" from 1984 and "Happy Accidents" from 1988. I'm such a big fan of "Ridin' On A Bummer" it's included in my "best of" Avant list while "Happy Accidents" was just too much for me, too difficult. Well I don't consider "The Strainge Case Of Steve" to be difficult, I'm just not into it at all. The synths run the show and while there is a Canterbury flavour I found it minimal.

This is a long one at 77 1/2 minutes with 16 tracks. Some great guests here including former UNIVERS ZERO bass player Guy Segers, Dave Newhouse from THE MUFFINS and he has been on many albums by this band. Dario D'Alessandro from HOMUNCULUS RES and by the way James Strain one half of the duo here mixed and mastered this album and he also did the same for the latest HOMUNCULUS RES record. Steve Kretzmer is the other half and original member, both are multi-instrumentalists.

The music here reminded me somewhat of NECROMONKEY, GOSTA BERLINGS SAGA and MAHOGANY FROG all heavy on the synths and beats but those bands are all in Eclectic here while RASCAL REPORTERS are in Avant and that is possibly the key because there is some off-kilter beats and stuttering sounds throughout and I guess noisy sections that all bring Avant to mind but not much else. Mostly instrumental and oh more guests in Jessica Martin Maresco one of the singers from LE GRAND SBAM and how could I miss Kimara Sajn from THINKING PLAGUE.

My favourite track is "Fat Delivered" the opener because of the distorted keys bringing Canterbury to mind but it's also more melodic and it pulls me in. Similar sounds on the next track "A Race Against Time" and the next one that follows "Papa Norco" but they just aren't melodic. There are some strainge sounding synths and stuff on here that I'm not into or those high pitched synths either. Some sound design, sound effects and samples too. "How Archontic The Ankle Biters" is my least favourite and it's almost 8 1/2 minutes but I do like "Love Is A Dead Smelly Fish" despite the title and what follows "I Cries Crimes" with that all star cast helping out.

"Dux In A Row" is the better record by a substantial amount and I hope to spend more time with it next week.