Friday 3 January 2014

Three Legged Race - Persuasive Barrier (Spectrum Spools)

Yes, another new header - not perfect, but neither am I, so it's appropriate.

I was rubbish at headers when playing football too. I wouldn't say the school was desperate, but they had me playing for them. We were so bad we celebrated corners. Balls then were so heavy I'm convinced they weren't footballs at all, just medicine balls nicked from the gym. Heading them required neck muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't recall scoring, ever.

This album cover reminds me of a hippy teacher at the same school who once played us an album by a Prog band called Egg. Silly bugger. What did he think he was doing? Educating us? We wanted something with a pounding beat, not Egg! I've no memory of what Egg sound like and have no intention of finding out, so all you fans, forgive me for assuming that they don't sound like Stevie Wonder, Slade or Dave & Ansel Collins. I'm pretty sure they don't.



Coincidentally, Egg were formed in January, 1969, the same month this album by Three Legged Race was released last year. It's music by Hair Police founder Robert Beatty and the fact that I'm mentioning it a year late should alert you to the fact that I can't keep up with every great release, but you knew that anyway. Can you, smarty pants? 

The Daliesque sleeve art perfectly mirrors the mind-melting music here. He's got bleep abstraction down to a fine art. The title track features a synth playing a flute, thus lending it an almost Folky feel, but still it's really very good and I think Egg might approve. Locked Eyes is quite Proggy too. Hold on, do I really like this album? Yes, I do, even when realising that our middle-class hippy secondary school teacher might also have approved. Don't fear (or get excited, whichever) it's not all pastoral futurism, Permethrin I and II are shot through with edgy menace, even some old school b-line business. The Butter Colored Hallway is one you don't want to walk down but if you like darkness you'll definitely love hearing it. 

Diverse yet unified by the vision of a smart mind, this is an ace piece of work.


4 comments:

  1. I'll be honest and say it's not my cup of tea (I did try) but your mention of Egg got me thinking - I was sure Mr SDS had a minidisc of the Egg album floating around in the archives here so on reading this I got him to dig it out. Not my cup of tea either but possibly a little more 'comfortable' than Three Legged Race. Anyway I listened to a couple of tracks and had no difficulty imagining the reactions of schoolkids being played it by a hippy teacher. Was he an Art Teacher?!

    I really like your new header by the way. (But I liked your old one too - that bloke had such an air about him!)

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    Replies
    1. Hi C - I'm guessing most music featured here isn't to your taste, but hopefully you enjoy other elements of the blog. I had bad 'noise' problems with the header so have changed it again, as you'll have seen. The teacher was a music teacher. Standing in for the usual one with his crazy progressive ideas.

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    2. Yes, I like this header too - one of my favourite of your collages.
      Btw, I hope it's obvious how much I enjoy the blog, plus it's not just what you write about, but how you write it! :-)

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    3. That's good to know, C (C now stands for Commenter, official, by the way -
      heh-heh). Your cheque's in the post, as they say. Thanks.

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