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'The only way to combat silliness is with cleverer silliness'... EM Forster |
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Finally, after almost two years, the fifth and final part of the Mammal Trilogy. Featuring Martin Gordon's apocalyptic 'Weltanschauung' set to the delightful accompaniment of ukulele, brass and electric guitars, this is the fifth and final outpouring of bile and spite in the so-called 'Mammal Trilogy', unless there are any more parts in the future. Thrashing guitars, thrumming ukelele, raucous brass, double bass and bar-room piano provide the sonic back-drop. The sterling vocals of Swede Pelle Almgren are once again to the fore, and his glorious trademark harmonies are a career-best, especially on the über-ballad ‘21st Century Blues’. Live performance is key, and studio trickery is either reduced to a minimum or is transparent. From faux big-band swing (‘If Boys Could Talk and Girls Could Think’) to breakneck amphetamine-pop (‘Interesting Times’), from dramatic big-hair ballads sung in Latin about the perils of celebrity (‘Incognito Ergo Sum’) to pub-piano sing-alongs bemoaning cheap flights (‘I’m Budgie (Don’t Fly Me)’), from crunching pop decrying the actions of the Almighty (‘Come Out Come Out Whoever You Are’) to the quasi-Floydian epic ‘You Can’t See Me’ which closes the set, Gordon spans the gamut. The sonic melange includes flocks of bleating sheep (‘I Have a Chav’), the gentle splashing of waves around the protagonist’s canoe (‘Panama’) and the uncertain countdown of the flight controller at the Kennedy Space Centre (‘Houston We Gotta Drinking Problem’). Take the blueprint of popular song, redesign to serve the purposes of rock, add a leavening of George Formby and the anarchic absurdities of Stanley Holloway and the Bonzos, and file under ‘new music-hall’. Don't believe us? Read the reviews. (2009)
The songs which make up the fifth and final part of the so-called ‘Mammal Trilogy' were first recorded as demos. The contributing musicians listened to these demos and structured their parts accordingly. This release contains these demos, along with one tune which which didn't make it due to the rigorous process of selection. This release is strictly limited to 100 copies, each of which will be numbered and signed. The CD comes complete with 4 page full colour booklet, instructions for use, lifestyle tips and - ole! - copies of the original chord charts for each song. Entertain/irritate your partner with Mammalian Melodies! (2009)
2008 - recorded live in Boston with help from local band Tristan Da Cunha, and featuring Martin Gordon, Pelle Almgren and a pile of Mammalian favourites (and a new Paul McCartney tune to boot). It was Gordon's professional debut as a solo artist, despite having done this for over thirty years. Well, it's not good to flood the market, you see. Leave them wanting more was always his considered motto. This is a live soundboard recording from the evening. The CD version is only available with the 1,000 copies of the Radio Stars album ‘Something For the Weekend' (but it IS free, so it seems like a reasonable arrangement, all things considered). This CD also includes a bonus track from the radio broadcast that our brave sailors made on or around that date. It can also be downloaded from iTunes and the usual sources. We can probably find a few of the original double CD sets if you ask us. (2008)
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So, it’s about that time again. As the world descends into fundamentalist chaos, feudal barbarism and futile reality-TV shows, along comes Martin Gordon with a new album. Perhaps timing was never his strong point. But on the other hand, perhaps it was. This Nobel Prize-winning, former stand-in for Charles Atlas and personal friend of James Bond once again lays it fearlessly on the line. He wrestles with la condition humaine in his accustomed manner, but will never really come to terms with it. His existential angst, and I believe we can justifiably use the term, is disguised as mere joi de vivre. Observe the cover, on which the Lobster of the title bravely struggles with the weight of the imploding and exploding world in the manner of the ancient mythological Greek lobster whose name currently escapes us. It is clear that this is no trite grappling with pop-cultural mores in the time-honoured manner of r’n’b divas and boy bands. This, frankly, is one Lobster that would rather chew its legs off than line-dance. It has, in a very real but figurative sense, come to redeem the world from its sins; it is the Lobster of God risen from the deep to absolve the non-crustacean of their earthly burden. It’s five minutes to midnight, says the Lobster, and you’d better listen up! Else you’ll turn into a pumpkin, innit. And explode. And that would be rather messy. So listen up! (2007)
Drawn from Gordon’s first three solo releases in an effort to develop increased mammal awareness among higher mammals (and invertebrates), this collection provides a welcoming, lo-cal, reduced fat, whole-grain, sun-dried, eco-friendly, non-judgemental first step into Martin Gordon's world (the CD was manufactured in China by condemned convicts). For the benefit of those who have so far resisted the lure of Gordon's work, nasty and irritating material has been removed from this release. ‘Fags’, for example, with its smutty double-entendres designed only to confuse Americans (it's rendered by iTunes as 'F*gs', strangely enough), ‘The Joy of More Hogwash’ with its guitar solo in 15:16, aimed at making French people fall over, ‘Let's Make Money’ with its critique of capitalism followed by, of all things, a bass solo - what was he thinking of? So there's absolutely nothing to be concerned about here. Just put the CD on the phonograph, check the stylus and your makeup, roll up the trousers, hand the valuables to the mugger, sign over the deeds of the house to the bank and settle down for a long night of blithering stupidity. What more could an evolved higher mammal ask for? (2006)
Following Martin Gordon’s acclaimed return to the pop world, his three solo CDs are here collected under one roof. The box set is a strictly limited edition of 500, each copy numbered and signed by the artist. Each CD comes complete with original packaging and artwork, and fits snugly into a full colour slip-case featuring an overview from the artist. This mid-price release includes the cover versions for which he has also become known, with songs by Marc Bolan/T Rex, the Move, the Beatles, Gilbert & Sullivan as well as Mel Brooks’ timeless ‘Love Power’ from his film The Producers. Gordon's epicurean skills, honed to perfection in the musical kitchens of the great and good (as well as the dull and awful), have attracted gourmet music fans the world over, and even from as far away as France.
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The 49 pages and 13 immortal Townson illustrations depict the story behind and the creation of each song. You get a free Mole with every 47th copy purchased (disputes regulated by the Radiant Future Corporation at their own discretion, in collaboration with the RSPCM). Pick God up from the shop via the link above. (2005)
Using the same line-up as Baboon, Martin Gordon continues to peruse the pop-cultural world (and the other, bigger one) and all it's foibles. The Joy of More Hogwash is pop music for grown-up people, This isn't, in Gordon's view, a contradiction in terms, even though pop currently seems to cater exclusively for pre-teens with reading disorders. But anyway… scientists say that carbon is the building block of the universe but, as Frank Zappa pointed out, the essential item is probably stupidity, as there's much more of it about. Gordon delves gleefully into this bottomless topic on The Joy of More Hogwash with 12 new compositions. The 'smart-pop meister' (Tangents magazine) deals with such issues as misogyny, idiots, Nigerian banking fraud, falling in love with aliens, falling in love with sheep, more idiots, science versus art, being beaten with twigs, casting TV shows and other contemporary detritus. There's also a Beatles song and possibly the ultimate version of 'Love Power' from the Mel Brooks film The Producers, karmically recorded in the very studio in Berlin from which Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels made his nasty little broadcasts. (2004)
Bassist/songwriter/record producer/Berlin-resident Martin Gordon currently plays bass with English sonic terrorists John's Children. He has just finished performing as bassist with Turkish legend Sezen Aksu on her European tour, after recording and mixing her latest CD in her Istanbul home. Those with still-functioning short term memory may recall his work with Kylie Minogue, George Michael, Blur, Primal Scream and his session work with the Rolling Stones. Those with longer memories who have eaten enough carrots may recall his earlier band Radio Stars; those with even longer memories (consumption of beetroot) might have distant recollections of his band Jet. And those whose memories stretch right back to the beginning of time (total abstinence and 14 hours of sleep per night) may dimly be aware that he was a founder member of oddball Californian vetinary-rock band Sparks. But enough historical ramblings: after an unconscionably long time, he finally releases his first solo CD. Singer Pelle Almgren took time out from Swedish solo stardom to fly in from Stockholm. In the earlier nineties he had enormous success in Sweden with his band Wow Liksom, and is still recovering. Chris Townson flew in from the UK where, as well as drumming in John's Children, he has other fish to fry. Renowned for his compositional, arrangement and, let's be frank, bass playing skills, Baboon demonstrates Martin Gordon's on-going relationship with cheap pop music as well as acknowledging the central role it plays in his philosophy. (2003) |
