"Taplas"
No. 25
FROM MIDDLE EAST TO MID WEST
Mark T & The Brickbats
Waterfront WF034
Will we, I wonder, in a quarter of a century's time, look back on the late '80s and the early '90s as a period in which what we loosely call folk music under went a very rapid evolutionary change? If we do, we'll be able to recall a much more articulate musical development, than if we now look back 25 years to the early days of folk/rock. And again, if we do, one of the bands we'll recall as having been at the forefront of that new articulation will, undoubtedly, be Mark T. & The Brickbats.
Now a four-piece, having added Tredegar-born Paul Hancock, they can definitely claim to be one of the most adventurous and innovative British bands around. Never afraid to take risks or to throw convention out of the window, they have, with this, their second full-scale album, reached new heights in cohesion and polish.
Listening to the album is like taking a somewhat manic world tour - a tour
organised by some who has never heard of the compass! We kick off with a version
of Leadbelly's
Ain't Going Down To The Well, using a hypnotic marimba accompaniment to Mark's
vocals, then we come up to date with Charlie Haden's Out Of Focus. Here we see
the two faces of Tim Hill's alto sax; he starts off in a mellow, lyrical style,
which we also encounter again on the traditional Greek tune Menousis, interacting
with Mike Townsend's melodeon in a way reminiscent of the French band Desauny;
later, on other tracks, he becomes freer and more extravagant - distinctly post-Coltrane
in approach.
Ashkabad, a hauntingly beautiful double pipe air from Turkmenia, is played by Hill on clarinet against a melodeon drone. It leads into two Breton tunes on which Hill turns to bombarde (what a stunning piece of playing it is!) and the closing tune in the set, from Ireland, is The Musical Priest, with Hancock taking the lead on whistle.
Side two opens with, perhaps, the most unusual combination on the album; Hambe Khale is one of South African Dollar Brand's most memorable tunes. It leads, first, into an unfamiliar version of the traditional Scottish song Ronny George Campbell, then to La Tricolee (something to do with knitting?) from Gabrielle (sic) Yacoub (presumably Mallicorne's Gabriel Yacoub). Closing the set is the English dance The Black Nag on which Tim Hill's alto really lets rip. Unusual the combination may be, but it works, dammit!
The more stately dance tune Chancoun De I Espouses. From Northern Italy, allows Mike Townsend to show his skills on hammering dulcimer and Paul Hancock's recorder is well to the fore on the Chinese tune The First Harvest.
Mark T.'s idiosyncratic vocals are matched only by the idiosyncrasy of his lyric writing. You Don't Know The Good Times Till They're Bad is a straightforward, bluesy type number but his other originals - Surfin' U.K. and The Jilted Lover - I find a trifle disconcerting (maybe that's his intention). Despite that, the album is a definite milestone in the band's development.
Keith Hudson
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Manchester "City Life"
Jan '88
Mark T & The Brickbats: From Middle East to Mid-West (Waterfront)
Mark T and his recently expanded Brickbats carry on in their own individual,
slightly scatty way, rendering delightful covers of world folk music in a bewildering
variety of guises. The breadth and depth of this record is staggering: English,
Greek, Spanish, and Leadbelly songs all get stewed together in this off-the-wall
brew. But to take the Brickbats as serious individuals in pursuit of the obscure
is to take them out of context - they're about fun with a capital F. Breezy,
bright and blown in off another continent.