THE JAZZ CANNON
Amateur Soul Surgery (Function 8)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Amateur Soul Surgery is a full-length CD that features both songs from their 12-inch single that came out about a year and a half back, plus nine other tunes in a similar groove. That groove is dark and spooky, sometimes even chilling, and often mesmerizing. Guitarist/keyboardist Billy Cote's (of Madder Rose) music is spacey and full of vibe, and chief accomplice Don Greene's chameleon-like vocals fit every track. In one instance ("Tell It To The Hi-Rise"), Greene sounds like a dead ringer for David Gilmour! The musical ground is right on a border. The early minutes of the album convince you that this is dub, and there's plenty of the trappings of dub all over the album, to be sure. A few tracks, however, cross the line from dub to trip-hop, most notably "Daddy Ride," which appeared in three versions on the aforementioned 12-inch single. It's a melt-in-your-mind tune that slides along through a surreal landscape, punctuated by echoing drums and writhing wah-wah'd guitar lines. "(Last Days) In Candy's Room" mixes dub and trip-hop with some of the strangest, scariest, and most interesting "lyrics" I've ever heard. Some will consider it aimless profanity, but it's more like impressionistic art, a soundtrack to your nervous breakdown. Most of the album is that way. Tell ya what it never is, though: boring. It's like flying with your eyes closed and wondering where you're going to end up. Very much worth the trip to Function 8 Records Website to check them out.

© 2000 - DJ Johnson