THE REVIEWS FOR 'HEAD'
WERE SOMEWHAT EXTREME - EITHER
PAYING THE ALBUM GREAT PRAISE OR TEARING IT TO PIECES.
FORTUNATELY, AT THE TIME OF WRITING, THERE'S BEEN ABOUT 25 IN THE FORMER CATEGORY AND EXACTLY
2 IN THE LATTER!
HERE'S A SELECTION... ALL ARE UNEDITED, WE'VE LEFT ANY
CRITICISMS OR INACCURACIES UNTOUCHED.
DPRP (German Progressive Rock Page) - April 2000 Long before the album was released I had already been warned that it would contain something entirely different from for instance what Grey Lady Down was doing before the split. Especially the use of fiendish time signatures and tempo changes was stressed as being a characteristic of the music. When I heard this I frankly didn't know what to expect. I did have a vague idea of where the music would be heading but of course I was proven entirely wrong. I expected freaky jazzrock but indeed the freakiness is woven into the songs much more subtle. A lot happens, but you'll miss a lot of it if you don't listen closely. Sixteen minute opener Mute is a prime example of this. The first time I heard it I didn't know quite what to make of it, but on further listening I began to discover that the track had much more to offer than was apparent on the surface. For one thing, as the first recording of Thieves' Kitchen that listeners will hear, it has to make a good impression of what TK is about. The track has a leading role for Phil Mercy's (distorted) guitar. Although he's quite capable of playing fast riffs (as evidenced in Time), his real strength lies in delivering the melody with feeling. Wolfgang Kindl's (mostly) analog keyboards complements the lead guitar perfectly, while surfacing for a leading role from time to time. In any band, the rhythm section has to hold the band together. No problem here for Paul Beecham and Mark Robotham, whose drumming is as solid as ever (for some real solid drumming, check out Grey Lady Down's Fear album). Like Mark said in the interview, Simon Boys' voice is very similar to Jadis' Gary Chandler. Indeed, the comparison is uncanny, which has probably also a lot to do with the fact that some of the vocal melodies are very Jadis like. The ironically called Time is with it's barely seven minutes the shortest track on the album. The keyboard intro of this almost poppy track spotlights Kindl's nimble fingers. He's also very evident in the gorgeous chorus, while Mercy finishes off the track with a blistering guitar solo. Closer T.A.N.U.S. is the magnum opus of the album. Clocking in at almost twenty minutes, it showcases once more what TK is about. The interplay between guitar and keyboards in this track is absolutely fantastic. I can imagine TK's joy when they finally found their keyboard player in Kindl: he's the perfect man for the job! Offhand, I can't think of any bands to compare Thieves' Kitchen with, and perhaps there lies their strength. The production of the album is spot on, which means it sounds quite good on my crappy speakers! ;-) DELIRE MUSICALE (CANADA) - March '00 The
Discovery of the Week : One could hardly hope for a better debut album. Really. Thieves' Kitchen hail from England and their first-born, Head, was recorded and mixed through Dec '99 and Jan '00. It's thus still warm! Thieves' Kitchen is a standard rock quintet : Paul Beecham (bass), Wolfgang Kindl (keyboards), Phil Mercy (guitars), Mark Robotham (electric drums) and Simon Boys (vocals). Don't be afraid of the drums, they sound very good and you won't hear the difference. TK's music is the proud sibling of the British progressive tradition. One can hear sparks of Yes and Gentle Giant, with the rock feel of Grey Lady Down and an American touch a la Kansas in the vocal harmonies. But what stroke me up first was the ultra-powerful voice of Simon Boys. It took me some time to pin down who he reminded me of, but now I've found it - Ozzy Osbourne! Head is a collection of five tracks ranging from 7 to 19 minutes, with a total of 63 minutes. The opener, "Mute", hits where it counts : a mini-moog theme doubled by the guitar over a rock-hard syncopated rhythm section. "Time" passes by without being noticed but "The Return of the Ultragravy" is full of surprises. The album closes with the 19 minutes "T.A.N.U.S.", an epic built around a simple riff and many variations. Simple but brilliantly executed. It is on this track that the musicians unleash all their energy, giving me the desire to see them on stage. A heavy rhythm section, scorching guitars, powerful vocals and intelligent music that won't go into the ultra-complex realms. The whole thing is perfectly produced - you'll never suspect this is an independent release. Finally, the artwork is beautiful and inventive. As I said, you couldn't ask for a better first album. Thieves' Kitchen has taken a strategic position on the "Best newcomer of 2000" grid. You better watch out for this band. Very strongly recommended. Thieves' Kitchen - Head. Right from the opening bars you know this is going to be something special. Mercy's guitar work gives no mercy and no let up throughout the complete 63 minutes of the debut album Head. The members of Thieves' Kitchen are not new to making great progressive music and several members already have substantial recording careers behind them. Mark Robotham (electric drums) is perhaps best remembered for his work with Grey Lady Down, Phil Mercy (guitars) has recorded as a solo artist on Italian label Mellow, Paul Beecham (bass), Simon Boys (vocals) previously with Stuff and Wolfgang Kindl (keyboards). A cross between Dream Theatre and King Crimson, the opening track Mute forces its way into your mind with what seems like power chords and deft guitar playing that's designed to give a fresh and new feel to 'prog' music in the 21st century. Clocking in at over 16 minutes there are plenty of highs and lows and twists and turns to satisfy the most ardent fan of progressive music. Other reviews have speculated that Thieves' Kitchen play a jazz-prog fusion with a heavy edge. With other bands like Threshold already plying a harder edge to prog I feel Thieves' Kitchen fit somewhere between metal prog and heavy prog. It's all thanks to that wonderfully active guitar work from Mercy, a cross between Steve Vai and every 12 year old musical prodigy you care to mention from the last century. Second
track, Time, clocks in at 7.15 minutes (short by
comparison with the rest of the album I guess) and begins
with some neat keyboard work from Wolfgang, atmospheric
but you know from the time (no pun intended) signature
that it will soon break into an upbeat assault on your
ears. Mercy's guitar work borders on the continual solo
throughout, but without being too self-indulgent. The
emotion that guy carries is complemented by Kindl's high
end keys. Another short song by comparison, Integrity is only 9.10 minutes long. A funkier track with lots of back beats, Robotham and Beecham show their skill and ability to meld the rhythm section together with plenty of improvisation around a theme. Beecham's bass in particular is ratcheted up for major funk overtones. A lively track with more Dream Theatre references than I can count, except Mercy doesn't fancy himself as THE guitarist of the century. T.A.N.U.S. is the longest song on the album at 19.30 minutes. Starting with a ticking clock it bursts into life, reminding me of Brand X, only thankfully without Phil Collins. Again Mercy plays his guitar in solo rhythm mode. (Note: I really must see him do it live, keeping it up for an hour and a half). There are some great instrumental parts to TANUS, that soar from the speakers and you don't want it to end. Seemingly about the similarity/monotony of daily life, you get the feeling Boys is angry about something - which he shouldn't be if this album is anything to go by as there is a bright future ahead for Thieves' Kitchen. The artwork on Head matches the restless mood of the music, with paintings from Stanislaw Kors which can only be described as new wave computer art. Inside sees the band as cabbages (I couldn't possibly comment) and there is a particularly familiar eye (mine after a night out) in the booklet centre and I have to ask, how does that woman drink her Guinness from the wrong side of the glass? What struck me about this album is that you don't realise you've been concentrating for 63 minutes as it gives you such a buzz and sets you up for action. I guess it's that constant driving beat - don't listen before bed or you'll never get to sleep. Not signed to a major label or any label at present, Thieves' Kitchen have decided to go it alone for the time being. Head has been independently produced and marketed and can be bought direct from: www.thieveskitchen.co.uk, thieveskitchen@aol.com or PO Box 3305, Wokingham, Berks, RG40 4UY. At £11 inc p&p you can't go wrong. No gigs in the offing yet, but Robotham, acting as manager again, is busy trying to sort some out. Perhaps they will play the Whitchurch Festival in 2000, a sort of back to their roots, as it was here that they creatively came together when Mercy met Beecham. We'll have to wait and see. The one thing I will say about Head that doesn't quite fit with the rest, and I know people will have a go at me for this, but it's by no means a major criticism, is that Boys vocals perhaps needed a condenser mic to give it more body and maybe a little higher in the mix in places next time. At the moment it sounds the only part not given the full production treatment (according to the band the vocals were recorded in between the chip shop owner drilling holes in walls next door). But hey, it didn't stop me enjoying myself. Listen to this album and beg them to record another - soon. And lads, lads! Lyrics next time please, this is prog after all. 9¾ out of 10. ECLECTIC
EARWIG REVIEWS - February '00 "HEAD just arrived -- very cool, very slick, very tight, ballsy stuff with polish. Glad someone has **finally** released "neo-prog", (whatever the heck that is supposed to be), with PUNCH and intelligent writing!! You guys should now move to the HEAD of the class. Bravo!! Have Mercy, what great melodic, crunch guitar, what elegantly splendid keys, what serious drummin', what infrasonic, killer bass, and solid as a rock vox -- it's all good. "Mute" was the cut above the rest. I hope this puts you guys on the map. Wow." Full Review - September '00 Thieves' Kitchen is Mark Robotham on electrical skins, Simon Boys lead vox of great angst, Phil Mercy is mean and riff-heavy axe, Wolfgang Kindl on superb keys and last but not least is Paul Beecham on bass and backing vox. Five songs range from 7:15 to 11:00 offering hard-hitting prog with a full-voiced impact. "Mute" opens things -- guitar-driven, dirty overdrive, fretboard-heating excellence. Keys lend an orchestral fullness in an almost cathedral air with organ aswelling.Vox is meaty, throaty, resonant, stimulating, and mature. No bombastic, high-prog pretense here. Boys' style reminds me of U.K., Styx, and Foreigner croonings. Synth and axe unison lines and solos are inspired, moving, and angst-ridden. Bass and drums? Perfect and slick throughout -- tight and tuff. Great stuff. "Time" features a superb synth/keys/vibes-voiced intro. Mean crunch-axe is back with keys painting a wall-of-sound canvas, organically-grown mellotronic delights. Vox is again angst-heavy in Echolyn mode. This is a driving tune -- set the cruise control to 75-80 mph. Mercy's axe screams beautifully full of sustain and clean attacks. What soul! Vibes-synth carry things along all the while Mercy rips it and then mutate into monster organ bellowings. Bass and drums are finessed and berserk. Beecham's harmonic vox expands Boys' range. "The Return of the Ultragravy" . . . mellotrons, shades of S.F.F. and early Crimson the king. Yeah buddy. Power chords, courtesy of Mercy, raze all neo-prog, weenie-rock, tinny-towers. No pansy-prog here! Vox is still introspectively dark like Echolyn just noticed a lost record deal or something equally crushing. Discipline fans take note of these goodies too. By now most listeners have to realize this band KICKS butt. Enjoy the whirling time-sig changes. Nice. "Integrity" slows things down a bit. But I begin to notice something . . . this cut, tho' 9:10, is the track that TK needs to push for radio play. It's hook-laden, a treasure trove of catchy moments. Though it mirrors much of all that has preceded it leans essentially mainstream in places. Send this to a college/internet DJ now! Final cut, "T.A.N.U.S." weighs in at a hefty 19:30 opening with a "tribute" to Floyd's DSOTM -- clocks ticking, alarms, etc. Well . . . by now all instruments and vocals have firmly fallen into a whole-album gestalt. There is more angst, cynicism, yada-yada, "Life's a drag" and here we go again in a musically affected ennui. "T.A.N.U.S." is the big finish, the amen, the extended benediction -- a song yes yet it is one long reprise of "Mute". Musicianship is top-notch but composition-wise we have but many echoes of what has come and gone. For symphonic proggers wanting a crunchingly tasty, monumental suite, Head's five-song release will satisfy. It is more a five-part tour de force of solid rockin' prog with lyrics of persistent pessimism. Head is a commentary on that sad state of affairs we accept as "life". Most of us lunkheads plod through, oblivious, shrugging tired shoulders, and say, "Hey, ya wanna rent a movie tonite?" Head complains blatantly, loudly, and with obvious forethought and talent. Strong work guys. Do it again. (Sorry for the delayed applause.) PROGRESSIVE
WORLD: PROG'N ROLL When Grey Lady Down decided to call it a day, drummer Mark Robotham got the idea to create a new band which would deliver much more complex music, something no other British band had done until now. "It was all neo-progressive [that] you could hear in Britain', says Mark, 'so I started looking for the right musicians in order to get as far away from that neo-progressive idea as possible." Enter guitarist Phil Mercy, who had already released his solo album Fear Of Fantastic Flight on the Italian Mellow label, and together with some extra members of the band Stuff and the already mentioned Mark Robotham, the band was almost complete. After almost a year, the first album Head is finally with us, an album with a lot of attention for individual elements within the group concept. Five rather long compositions are to be found on this debut, songs which have their roots in the swamp of Gentle Giant, VDGG, Happy the Man, yet with a strong contemporary feel in the rhythm section. Strong contributions from keyboard player Wolfgang Kindl who knows how to include the necessary dramatics by means of his playing. Just listen to the speed of his playing and the wonderful strings during the intro for "Time." Next to electrifying guitar riffs, "The Return Of The Ultragravy" contains some nice mellotron parts whilst the weird chords are very much in true Gentle Giant vein. As is the case with Gary Chandler, I also hear a lot of Level 42 singer Mark King in Simon Boys' voice, which means "Integrity" sort of becomes a cross between Jadis and Level 42. The absolute highlight of this album can be found at the very end of this disc by means of "T.A.N.U.S.," a song where I hear a lot of Happy the Man influences, even if the song has more of a rock approach than the often jazzy sounds of HtM. Swirling guitar solos melt together with great Hammond organ playing the scales over and over again. At one particular point, the guitar switches into fusion with some Vai and Satriani influences. The song ends with a playful musical box, a lullaby that should take us into a dream world. Head contains the right amount of material to keep the brain in that little "head" of yours working late. Just the kind of thing we've always wanted! THE BATHTUB OF ADVENTURES - IAN OAKLEY Over the past year BoA has been very outspoken concerning the lack of truly Progressive music in this island of ours. We even issued a challenge for any band out there to prove us wrong. That was six months ago. The only band to take up this challenge? Thieves' Kitchen. As you can read from our interview with him, Mark virtually has the same views and is even more outspoken than BoA on this subject. Well they say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating so what do we find with the debut release of this new band? The opener 'MUTE' is like a blast of fresh air. Using time signatures usually found only the jazz-rock world, the track makes a confident, powerful opening. Complex yes - but the band tries not to make the mistake of losing the melody for the sake of overt cleverness and mostly succeeds. In a review of a debut album of course you are going to have to use and need comparisons for you the reader to try and grasp what I'm trying to convey. So let's go. ... It's definitely English school (Egg/ National Health are easiest/earliest comparisons) a touch of 'Red' era King Crimson, a dollop of Allan Holdsworth solo material and a small pinch of that dreaded Neo Prog. The interesting thing here and the true progression is the 90's, almost metal, guitar work of Phil Mercy and the truly stunning keyboard work of Wolfgang Kindl. The musicians: - Wolfgang is the real star of this line-up, sounding like a cross between Dave Stewart (Egg/ National Health/Bruford), Eddie Jobson (U.K.) with musical undertones of the new Classical work of Philip Glass etc. Wolfgang's work has "taste", and is never overly flash for the sake of being flash. Something however I cannot honestly say about guitarist Phil Mercy. Phil plays in the high, distorted sound favoured by musicians such as Steve Vai combined with the power riffing of Metallica. To me, this works most of the time but by the end of the album I did find myself longing for a bit more "soul" in the soloing and some variety in that sound department. The use of constant distortion can sometimes smother the dexterity of the playing and I spent some of the album longing to hear a 'real' guitar. But then again that's just me. Phil's guitar playing has been brought right to the front of the mix in a way that gives the band a certain 'metal' appeal - 'Prog/Jazz-Metal'? In the same way, Simon Boys' vocals owe more to the metal world than either the jazz-rock or classic prog world The rhythm section of Paul Beecham and Mark Robotham work very well together with Mark's style owing a lot more now to the Bruford Jazz rock school than his neo prog roots. Bassist Paul Beecham's playing, although rooted in the jazz world, has a certain Squire-like feel. Overall some tracks work better than others. The track that I find most accessible and where the various band influences sit most comfortably together is the final epic T.A.N.U.S. The more I hear this album the more I like it. It's brave, bold, inventive and, in the current UK prog scene, "groundbreaking". I have some reservations, outlined above, but hey, this is a literal "home-made" debut of a new UK band and as an opening statement of intent it's highly intriguing. All the material had been written and demoed on sequencers by guitarists Paul and Phil before the other three had joined the band. After more time working together as a band, touring and getting to know each other's strengths, weaknesses and influences, I'm sure the best is yet to come... SITE OF SOUNDS - STUART ELLIOT OF GNIDROLOG The musical references in this album paint a sound picture of the long history of progressive music from where it all happened - in the United Kingdom of course! If you like Yes, Crimson, Gentle Giant, Floyd in a neo-progressive setting then you'll enjoy this offering from one of the UK's best new bands. Here's an album from a group who exploit much of the technical side of prog - exciting time breaks, breathtaking chord sequences and excellent musicianship combine to making a pleasurable yet challenging musical experience. Fine vocals combined with long unison lines from guitar and keys blend well with a bass sound Chris Squire would be proud of! Stand out track for me is T.A.N.U.S. - I certainly enjoyed the 'Dark Side of The Moon' reference at the beginning of this piece and the riff based song is perhaps one of the more 'political' aspects of the album. Modern instruments and techniques allow TK to utilise a rich palette of sounds and this is a professional quality recording in a nice package. All the more impressive as the band have obviously released this CD themselves on their own label - and that in itself tells you much about their commitment to producing fine progressive music that will certainly stand the test of time. There's much to admire in their music and obviously much more to come! Thieves'
Kitchen - Head This impressive debut from the Wokingham-based five-piece Thieves' Head actually grows on one, like the very best of them. The band's sound is uncompromising, gloriously uncommercial, and the pieces are mostly quite lengthy, e.g. their pièce de résistance, "T.A.N.U.S.", which takes up nearly a third of the total time. The first bars of opening track "Mute" sound like it might be from UK's second album, Danger Money; German expatriate Wolfgang Kindl's thickly layered keyboards are mostly analogue and band leader and main composer Phil Mercy's tasty guitar playing stays in the background at first, then joins up with the lead synth, only to truly erupt 6 minutes into the song. Is that a mellotron behind the vocals? I wish it would have been mixed more to the foreground and that a dollop of reverb and/or delay might have been added to the vocal itself. The guitar solo sounds very Holdsworth-like - indeed, the whole middle section has the technical flourish of an early Bruford solo album - think One of a Kind. Simon Boys is an able singer, but sounds quite strained at times, and the vocal melody could have been developed further. He should loosen up a bit, he sounds way too machine-like. The
somewhat shorter "Time" features more great
guitar playing - nice, warm distortion tones before the
bass and strings kick in. The playing is more uptempo
here. The band's magnum opus (so far), the magnificent T.A.N.U.S., is a joy to hear, and I wish they would have chosen this as the opening track. From its cool, Floydian beginnings - "Cluster One" from The Division Bell comes readily to mind - to the thumping, piano in the second section which reminds one of the great Curved Air in its Jobson incarnation, this track breathes a degree of artistry not prevalent in, say, "Integrity" or even "Mute." Impressive soloing from Mercy throughout. The vocals are much more effective as well, especially when the other musicians harmonize with Boys. The recapitulation leads straight into a musical box ditty that closes the album. If you're at all a fan of late seventies prog, in particular anything Allan Holdsworth might have contributed to, I recommend that you give Head a listen, you won't be disappointed. Phil Mercy doesn't merely sound like Holdsworth, this guy even looks the part! The production is utterly professional, if somewhat dry, especially in the vocal department, and the very capable rhythm section featuring Paul Beecham on bass and Mark Robotham on electric drums might have benefited from a tad more 'presence.' The artwork and layout, too, are entirely convincing : the band's logo is as nice as anything Roger Dean might produce. PROGRESSOR (Uzbekistan - Vitaly Meschikov) - June 2000 Thieves
Kitchen (UK) - 2000 - "Head" 1.
Mute 16:01 Mark
Robotham - electric drums All
material written and produced by Thieves' Kitchen. Mark Robotham is a wise man. Being tired of playing such boring music as Neo Prog really is, he left famous Grey Lady Down specially 'to play a true Progressive Rock'. As a result Mark formed a band under the name of Thieves' Kitchen, and all the other 'Thieves' call him a 'Chef'. These Thieves' however are quite strange - listen to their debut album and you'll understand they haven't stolen anything from existent bands. Mute is already a good track, but each following track on "Head" is better than the previous one. I do wish Mark and Co. to do the same with their following albums. But, back to the egg, Thieves' Kitchen sounds much better than just OK already in the debut. Thus, you, dear reader, already know Mute is the first of five epic compositions on "Head". With this exact title for this exact album and this exact title for this exact opening track Mark has apparently guessed that dumb heads will ignore this exact work right away after they read both aforesaid titles. The title of album doesn't have the word 'Neo' in addition to "Head", and judging from the title of the opening track, this one must be a pure instrumental (not to mention it can also mean 'dumb', in addition). Also, these ubiquitous rumours sound just like "Mark is declaring war on Neo, and his new arsenals are full of puzzles, ie intricate musical arrangements". These thoughts are quite right on the whole, and such an unpleasant thing like confusion is appearing already with the title of the same opening track. You may say me "Hey, stop going round yourself!", or "Stop beating about the bush!", but, please believe me, Mute is by far no mute in reality, and Simon sings here, as well he does so on the rest compositions called; Time, The Return of the Ultragravy, Integrity, and T.A.N.U.S., and he openly prefers to use quite an original way of singing - he sings as if on his own, abstractly from the musical picture that accompanies his singing. The musical picture itself however sounds somehow abstract as each of the instrumentalists play on his own, though it is obvious that a guitar tends to play a lead role as it plays constantly, now here, now there, sounding half Metal, half Jazzy, sometimes even simply acoustical, though I haven't found any simplicity in its wonderful acoustical passages. So, yes, I like all the guitar does on "Head", ie I like all the guitar does with my head when it sounds on "Head", compelling me to think, ie promoting my abstract thinking. Also, I like the unobtrusive yet very diverse and inventive keyboard passages, curved lines of bass and sometimes quite atonal drumming as well. Trying to comprehend the music, ie to get the whole picture from these musical mosaics, I must play "Head" again and again, I must work with my head again and again. I really want to do it, and what is more, imagining myself as a detective, I do it with pleasure. You will be vainly looking for a clear melody on "Head", but the few interplays between guitar and keyboards sound very, very hearty, especially somewhere in the middle of The Return of the Ultragravy. T.A.N.U.S. is the most (put any of the following words here: intricate, intensive, intriguing, integral, intellectual; and I would enumerate each of them) composition. Already two 'side-long' suites, the first and the last, would be quite enough for the album to become one of the general favorites sometime in the good'n'gold 70's, and we have a real 'double'. It is good that these guys don't recycle some old cliche of our wonderful genre, but learn from the past and take their music into 90's! I hope I was able to forewarn all the Neo-Heads... As for all the other Prog-Heads, you are the most welcome guests in this Kitchen - Thieves' have prepared a dainty progressive dish 'cooked' by their own original formula. Just visit them at http://www.thieveskitchen.co.uk/ ALTERNATE VIEW - November 2000 Thieves'
Kitchen: Head Thieves Kitchen is the brainchild of former Grey Lady Down drummer Mark Robotham and guitarist/composer Phil Mercy. They have teamed up with three musicians new to me - Paul Beecham on bass guitar, Simon Boys on vocals and Wolfgang Kindl on keyboards for the release of their debut album Head which was released in the spring of 2000. The album consists of five tracks - all major epics, the shortest Time is a mere seven minutes while the longest, the epic T.A.N.U.S. is almost twenty. Just so you know what to expect... The opening track Mute is classic progressive rock. At sixteen minutes it is the second longest - and yet it flows superbly well, and manages to grab you from the start and keep your attention throughout. Simon's lyrics are excellent - looking through the CD booklet, I thought the lyrics were in there, but I am mistaken. So, I am left to drag what I can from listening to the album instead! Mute - the lyric I am left with is 'you can take my soul, but do not take my voice' - or something like that. I'll need to wait another sixteen minutes to find out! But Simon really sings it like he means it (which maybe he does!). The short, radio-friendly Time (yeah right!) opens with some excellent Gong-like glockenspiel (which I know Wolfgang is playing on his keyboards!) that builds up as the band takes up the theme. This really rocks along; top quality progressive rock with Phil showing that he is no slacker on the fretboard. An excellent track this, up-beat and bouncy. I really meant it about being radio-friendly, you know! The Return Of The Ultragravity is a more jazz fusion composition. The instrumentation is more intricate - Phil adds some Holdsworthian guitars, Wolfgang's keyboards are strong on Hammond chording of the ilk of Eddie Jobson while Mark's drumming is hard and heavy... Hell, I know what this reminds me of - UK. And believe me - that is one hell of a complement, I can tell you! Simon isn't quite a John Wetton - but probably only in style - certainly he has a great strong voice. And yes, this falls somewhere between UK and Danger Money. No wonder it appeals to me! Integrity is the weakest track on the album. Musically it is equally complex as its brothers, but somehow the composition fails to grab me. Maybe it'll grow on me. T.A.N.U.S. is a hard, aggressive composition with Simon's vitriolic lyrics matched with the aggressive and often high-octane delivery of the rest of the instrumentation. There are elements of UK, ELP and probably a host of other bands in there too, but overall this is a breath of fresh air - if delivered down a wind tunnel with the volume set to 11! What a way to complete your debut album! For some reason Head by-passed me first time around. It got a couple of listens and then was relegated to the 'To Review' pile without another thought. I guess I never really expected much for the line-up. Mark, although a good e-pal, never really set the world alight with his drumming with GLD - and Phil Mercy's previous release Fear Of Fantastic Flight while technically good, hadn't sparked my imagination. Add three blokes I have never heard of - and well, maybe it wasn't my fault. Hearing it again - I reckon I must have been in a coma first time around! This is a superb album - and I am surprised the rest of the prog world missed it too. Phil Mercy has shown his true colours - the guy is a genius on the guitars. With a band around him, he is in his element taking the lead role with aplomb but effortlessly melding his breaks around everyone else when required. Simon is a solid and strong vocalist - I think we will be hearing a lot from him in the future - and he is ably accompanied by Paul, Phil and Wolfgang for some neat harmonies. Wolfgang's keyboards are more subtle. He isn't a Wakeman or an Emerson - I think my comparisons with Jobson are spot on. Wolfgang doesn't go for the over-blown keyboard, rather uses the sounds to augment everyone else's sounds. Paul's bass is solid and reliable without being overtly obvious. And Mark... Well, Mark is obviously enjoying life after GLD. His drumming has gone up a gear or two here - and he is obviously enjoying playing along with musicians of this ilk (with no disrespect to the rest of GLD!). And the result is a classy, top-quality album. Integrity is maybe a weak link in the album - although I suspect the other four tracks are just so good that something had to give. I've not heard anything from the band since this was released - I hope they are in the studio writing the follow-up! Head
(TKCD001) is released by the band themselves. For more
information, you can contact TK at reviewed by Frank Blades THE PROGRESS REPORT - Vol. 2 No. 1 January 2001 Thieves'
Kitchen: Head Now this is what the term Progressive is supposed to mean. This is a really strong debut cd from some accomplished players, who take this opportunity to show what they are capable of doing in an adventurous undertaking such as this CD. A few of these boys have been in some very good bands, i.e. Mark from Grey Lady Down. Head is as good as it gets in this arena. 5 well structured songs with lots of surprises and no disappointments. I hate it when someone compares a cd to someone else, but to get an idea of what's going on here, think Jadis on musical steriods. I like Jadis, but this cd delivers more in the way of keeping your senses from drifting. Just when you have the song figured out, it's a musician thing I guess, they surprise you. I like every aspect of this cd, but the guitar work is what pushes this to another level. What do you do with a very talented band to make them even better? Apparently add Phil Mercy as a guitarist. This is a very hard review to do, as I usually start from the weak points and build upon that for a review, I can't find any weak spots. This band strikes me as the kind of band that is talented enough to record almost any style of music under any number of guises and they would do well in all. If you really like to LISTEN to an album, I recommend this very highly. If I gave a numerical rating for cds, This would get a 17 out of 17 or something. Head is itself, and shoulders above the rest of most of the new bands on the scene today. And just think they are already recording ARGOT, their follow up album. So maybe if you're good boys and girls the Easter Bunny will drop an Argot in your basket. Whatever that means. All kidding aside, if you have about 63 minutes, open a beverage, slip on the headphones, do whatever it is that you do to get comfortable, and listen to Head, from Mute on you'll be hooked. D.H. (Dave Haslam) __________________________________________________________ Thieves' Kitchen: 'Head' At the Whitchurch Prog Festival
1998 bass player Paul Beecham met guitarist Phil Mercy and they found
out that they had a similar taste of music. So they decided to realise
their idea of progressive rock together. The core of the band was
formed in no time with vocalist Simon Boys and drummer Mark Robotham,
who became available after GLD split up. And after some time of
searching they found a suitable keyboard player, the German Wolfgang
Kindl. By the way, according to some
articles the powerful voice of vocalist Boys sounds similar to Gary
Chandler's (Jadis), but I can neither say __________________________________________________________ Elsewhere in England, other people are clinging as stubbornly (if not as noisily) to their own ideals-as-music. With prog far more marginalised than punk or even agit-pop these days (although, OK, it's less likely to have a police truncheon bouncing off its skull during a grand day out... riots at Whitchurch just aren't what they used to be), let's have a look in the Hungerford corner to see what they have... A few generations down the lineage of the
infamous New Wave of British Prog, Thieves' Kitchen have had time to
learn how to avoid a few of the endemic errors that blighted that
movement. Well, while they're a new band, they're not fresh- faced:
Simon Boys and Phil Mercy sang and guitarred in Stuff while
drummer/manager Mark Robotham spent much of the '80s and '90s, more
infamously, in Brit-prog stalwarts Grey Lady Down. Wolfgang Kindl's
keyboards have been previously employed in Fake (about whom I know
little other than that jazz, funk and blues were involved) and trusty
bass player Paul Beecham's past activities are also a blank, but the
remainder of Thieves' Kitchen have enough of this smidgin of history
to count in this most fastidious of genres.
And as expected, their music carries a
bannersworth of historical proggie references. They're very much a
band in the key of G (i.e, Genesis and Gentle Giant) as proven by the
spurts of organ and dancing moogs, and in the complex structures of
the morphing music. Though a couple of two- letter references - say,
IQ and UK - wouldn't go amiss either, hearing the glossiness of their
explorations and the nimble- fingered Allan Holdsworth patterns
fizzing out of Mercy's sharp, nasal-toned guitar, bringing a touch of
jazz-fusion to the table. Although Thieves' Kitchen can't quite match the flamboyance and big production jobs of American proggies such as Echolyn, they still really go at their music like terriers in gold capes, worrying at the melodies with a drive we haven't seen since the heyday of It Bites. Kindl in particular makes full use of the fluency of his jazz playing, revealing himself as a top-notch prog keyboardist. He cleverly mixes the buzz and whistle of analogue and the delicate precision of electric piano touches with the facility of his digital rigs, and matches the similarly articulate Mercy in a series of interwoven instrumental duels and catch games. The solid, crisp whack of Robotham's electric drums sharpens the sound even more, and Beecham's choice of a toppy Chris Squire-y bass tone (in which you can hear almost every measured delay in every pick stroke) means that "Head" has an astringent, heavy- tech-y feel. Sometimes you feel that it wants to leave the ground and go whirring away through the air in a flutter of flashing lights and metal vanes, off to scare planespotters. Anchoring it to the ground, though, is Simon
Boys. His voice is no-nonsense clean rock; a stolid and clear-eyed
delivery closed to pretence or any kind of aspiration that ain't
clean-limbed. The sort of voice you'd expect to hear earnestly
punching out at Greenbelt or another Christian Rock shindig. What it's about in Thieves' Kitchen's case is, literally, life inside your head. On "Mute" it's injured pride and the communication closedowns of depression, a battered dignity more important and more achievable than talking it out. For "Integrity" it's a lament for lost possibilities, where discontent undermines a man's old ideals; and the worm starts to turn as that typical bloke's fear of being marked down as nice and dull turns to resentment ("You washed away my glitter, took away my pride. / All you see now is the emptiness inside..."). "Return Of The Ultragravy" is less introspective, but still casts a sour eye over the tunnel- vision of working stiffs in the rat-race and the queues seeking remedies in the Lottery. "Time" has sequenced, vibraphonic synths, rippling like riverwater in summer, but this song too frets after lost freedom, chafes at an unsatisfying relationship and the sapping of the will to change anything else. Like the rest of us, Thieves' Kitchen struggle to cope with today's preoccupations of work and psyche. And in putting them into their music (though they don't take the obvious route of pinching any Gothically elaborated leaves out of Fish's books to do so) they don't run away from them. If they provide any of prog's expected brushes with fantasy, it's with the defeated self-persecuting imagination, the music itself offering a wordless channel for hope. And though I'm making Thieves' Kitchen sound like prog equivalents of indie miserablists, I should tell you that they choose to use their twenty-minute monster track ("T.A.N.U.S") to send it all up. It's a massive tongue-in-cheek grumble about everyday humdrum: running out of coffee and cigarettes, missing buses, sulking at your boss, stumbling over all the everyday crap that clogs up your rut and cheeses you off. "Breathe in, breathe out, day in, day out. / Stay in - it's always going to stay the same," they carol over the cascading synths. "Nothing to moan about, all's hunky- dory." Keen to avoid preciousness at all costs, they bring these concerns down to earth. For once, Brit-prog's blokeiness is turned to a positive advantage. (JIMBY WALTON) Availability:
Limited distribution - best obtained directly from
artist or via specialist progressive/art-rock dealers.
Thieves' Kitchen - 'Head' -
Eufonia, Mexico It is evident that the progressive world is in a state of revival these days. Here we have one more example: Thieves' Kitchen. This band comes from Wokingham, England, with a sound that it tries to keep modern, and its spirit digresses from the decade of the 70's thanks to the constant use of more unusual keyboard sounds and devices. "Head" is their debut album, which consists of 5 cuts ranging in length from 7:15 to 19:30 minutes. Although it has been said that this group has arisen from the ashes of the famous Grey Lady Down (Mark Robotham, the drummer of TK was in that band), this music is a world apart; while GLD were transparently neo, the music of these "thieves" is less derivative of Genesis and Marillion. There are many shining moments in this disc, for example the keyboards in "Mute" (is that moog real?) or the less preponderant "Time", but once again the group reserve, almost deliberately, its best ideas for the last song of the disc, "T.A.N.U.S.". And yes, it's also very long; the song is lead by a constant guitar riff with a sound that really announces the band's presence; the central part piano and guitar duel is truly touching. The overall feel of "Head" is very satisfactory: excellent in execution, fine production and showy presentation. Where there is opportunity for improvement is in the composition, I know that music is much more that melodies, but they could maybe do with one or two more of them. Thieves' Kitchen is a band that is already giving an idea of what it is capable of, and they have a right to be very proud. Visit their page and hear the samples to convince yourself.
THIEVES'
KITCHEN - Head
THIEVES'
KITCHEN - HEAD It seems that guitarist Phil Mercy has found his true musical home in Thieves' Kitchen. After having kicked around the English club scene and about a dozen different bands over the last 15+ years, one gets the sense that he has settled into something truly enjoyable. The proof is found on this disc, Thieves' Kitchen's debut. The five songs on 'Head' sounds sort of like Jadis meets National Health and lean towards longer, multi-faceted compositions, none being less than 7 minutes and the longest clocking in at 19:30. Still, each piece succeeds admirably due to an excellent blend of arranging, melodic writing and use of dynamics, plus an undeniable charm in the overall presentation. And when the group sets off on an instrumental foray, as in 'The Return Of The Ultragravy' or 'T.A.N.U.S.', they are especially captivating. My only minor complaint would be with singer Simon Boys who, though he sounds like Gary Chandler, sometimes lacks his vocal strength or melodicism. Still, the rest of the band and the material more than make up for it. Mercy turns in a fine performance, sounding much like Phil Miller throughout the disc. In addition, Wolfgang Kindl shows terrific versatility and skill on the keys, while bassist Paul Beecham and ex-Grey Lady Down drummer Mark Robotham shore up the bottom with style. 'Head' will surely appear on my Top Ten list for 2000, and I'd go so far as to proclaim Thieves' Kitchen one of the best new bands of the year, and off to a great start. |
© Copyright 2000/2001 Thieves' Kitchen. All rights reserved
Not that Thieves' Kitchen are bible-bashers of any kind: it's just
that Boys proclaims his lyrics as if wading manfully through the
muscular circus tricks of the rest of the band, reminding them that
this prog game's not all about clever-clever conjuring tricks.