NICK MASON'S FICTITIOUS SPORTS

3.5 stars. Nick Mason is of course most known for being the drummer for PINK FLOYD, but he also was a Producer who produced some notable albums in between recording and touring with FLOYD. He has a lot of musical connections and this album almost feels like a celebration of that. Nick is so generous and I have no doubt that even though this is a Carla Bley record, that he foot the bill during these recording sessions in New York City. That's one thing but then to be humble enough to have this album be released under his own name knowing it would sell more copies is another thing. And his name is in the title of the album just so people got it. Carla wrote the lyrics, composed the music and produced this record.

The album comes off as being a renewing of friendships and the making of new ones I'm sure. They are having a lot of fun and while I wouldn't call this Canterbury music at all, it does have that spirit with the naughty lyrics at times and humour. While this is Carla's baby her husband Michael Mantler engineered it and plays trumpet on here. And lets talk about who is on here. The lineup surpasses the music big time in my opinion. Besides Mantler's trumpet we have Gary Windo on horns and flute, Chris Spedding guitar, Steve Swallow bass, Robert Wyatt and Karen Kraft vocals and Nick Mason drums, and he co-produced this with Carla. Carla plays keyboards on here.

This was released in 1981 but recorded late in 1979 after "The Wall" sessions. This is where Nick was de-stressing from those "The Wall" recordings where Roger was in fine form. Michael Mantler released a solo album in 1976 called "The Hapless Child And Other Inscrutable Stories" and Nick mixed that record and added some spoken word bits. That album had Wyatt, Bley and Swallow as well as Jack DeJohnette and Terje Rypdal. Mantler's next solo album from '77 had Chris Spedding on it while his 1978 record called "Movies" had Swallow, Bley as well as Tony Williams on drums and Larry Coryel on guitar. His 1980 "More Movies" has Bley, Swallow, Windo as well as Philip Catherine guitar and D. Sharpe drums a long time collaborator with Carla and doing backing vocals here on "Fictitious Sports".

I just wanted to show the connections with all of these wonderful musicians and albums, this is the one where they let their hair down and enjoyed themselves. Having said that the closer on here "I'm A Mineralist" sounds like a Steven Wilson song, in fact I have no doubt he took inspiration from this. Even during the harmonies I'm going "This is Wilson all the way." Melancholic as Wyatt tells a story. The disappointment is those female vocal melodies bringing to mind "The Great Gig In The Sky" but more subdued I guess you could say late on "Hot River".

Several years ago I felt this was a low 4 star record based really on what it is, but if I'm honest with myself this is a true 3.5 star record, inconsistent with some moments for sure.