Something good

The Ballad of Ariel Piccolo. Five stars.

This collaborative effort is a winner. CDs this likable are a rare blessing, to be sure.

Neutral Sons is comprised of an englishman (Mark Cottrell) and an american (Richard Knutson, visiting England at the time this was made). Their first attempt at music was respectable, I recall. Obviously I'll have to review that next. But it's Ariel Piccolo I'm talking you through now...

ESP is a tranquil, pastoral opener. It's a perfect way to let the audience know they're in good hands. There's a certain elegance to the music and the lyric borders on romantic. Very lovely.

That's all well and good, but Angels Matter is better still. I can think of no better way to describe it than groovy. I can't make heads or tails of the lyric, but my feet couldn't be still while the song played. Great fun.

King of Dreams has that killer attitude I love in rock and roll. Great backup vocals, brilliant lyric. Richard's delivery is spot on, and it's pretty short, delivering a fast punch as it were.

Ariel Piccolo is a very wistful, 1:00 minute track. An immediate look at a homeless man, done sparely and somehow poetically.

Where would a Richard Knutson project be without a weird ambiant track? Long Fong is the one included here. It's freaky, full of looped voices you can barely make out. However, for me it wore thin about halfway through. The weak point.

Things pick up with Muscle Soul. Meaning no disrespect to Knutson's voice here, but Mark Cottrell completely upstages him. It's a slow moving song, but very entertaining.

Paris Shoot is a discordant, almost paranoid song. I find it very interesting, a little disturbing, and lyrically sounding like the narrator has reached the end of the line. It's grim.

Devices sounds totally adolescent, like something a bunch of college kids enthusiastically cooked up together in a garage. It's just a good time. A very good time.

Bong Song is not another instrumental. It's an unmemorable, though sinister, tune. Good lyrics, sounds like something bad is on the way...

Ariel Piccolo Said Hello starts as an intense rocker. You don't have to take it too seriously though. Listen to those backups; sounds like a couple of hobgoblins got brought in for the job. Just when it starts to get a little monotonous, it switches to a reprise of Ariel's earlier cameo. Melancholy acoustic guitar, wistful lyric, odd extra tagline at the end.

Don't Walk features prominent recorder. Great lyric, actually makes some sense! Melody line is excellent. Another winner.

3 Steps Forward (It Didn't Happen) requires close attention. Mark and Richard share the lyric at the same time... but it's all a little askew. Then a marching tune strikes up and it all seems to be deadly serious, but again it doesn't quite match up... Some songs are so bizarre and eccentric that they just win you over with a sort of oddball charm. This is a good example.

Cutting Off Zen sounds like a dark, empty room. Sinister again, with a creaking rocking chair added for good effect. Interesting atmosphere, but I prefer Bong Song myself.

Hello My Dear is mournful, with a tape loop voice or two and a soft piano. It's quite effective, makes me feel alone. Not a cheery end to the Ballad of Ariel Piccolo. But why should it be?

There you have it. Like Richard Knutson's other recent record Travelian Pets, it's a bit long, but it makes up for the fact by being very high quality. It's mostly a cheerful piece of work, sounds like they had fun doing it. I'll be interested to see how it compares to their debut. Wait for it...