LANGLEY SCHOOLS MUSIC PROJECT
Innocence & Despair (Bar-None)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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Without a doubt, the album of the year. Even David Bowie says so: "The backing arrangement is astounding." David is talking about a gymnasium full of school kids, armed with open tuned guitars, Orff instruments and plenty of vocal enthusiasm, putting his "Space Oddity" through the ringer. And he's right. The students start low, way low, so low you have to crank the volume to hear their pleading, angelic, wrong octave voices, and then WHAMMO!, they crash percussive instruments in a mighty blast. Watch out for the kid with the cymbals, cuz he comes with no warning. Haunting, fragile, powerful, cheerful and bouncy; a thrilling rainbow scope of music. The kids tackle mid-seventies chart staples "Rhiannon," "Saturday Night," "Band On The Run" and a bunch of Beach Boys tunes. Hell I hate Beach Boys tunes, but I love these versions. This was originally the work of a green hippie music teacher who, in '76 instilled joy over technique to his students, employed fabulous arrangements, recorded their performance for parents, and that was that... Until the dusty album landed in the hands of a New York DJ who played the hell out of it, to great response of course. Now ex-kids of a rural B.C. community are rock stars, with (I'll say it again) the record of the year.

© 2002 - John Sekerka