R E V I E W S   _________

“& Strangeness and Charm” is a collection of songs written over the last ten years and performed by ÆON : Chris Coombs, Pete Taylor and Mike Levon. It brings back memories of recording A to Austr: there are quirky little songs, long songs, a wide variety of styles and music, and whatever performers happened to be available. And it’s great! - Holyground lives!!

Song by Song

The album kicks off with Chris Coombs’ Sox Song: short, sweet and a hello kind of song: “pleased to meet you . . . you can tell by the colour of the sox that I’m wearing”. Rockin’ little solos from Alan Robinson of the 1970’s group Lazy Days.

And then we dive straight into So . . . , a psych  rocker, with Byrds like guitars and Mike Levon’s mysterious and wonderful images: “ dust of gold and shining heights and diamond bright and you’re so . . . . “   There’s a classical break courtesy of  Holst, and a neat segue into a most appropriate song: The Holyground with reworked lyrics by Mike: “where we played our heart and mind songs, we played in village halls, and still the dust comes drifting down”. This is a brilliant folk rock track with tin whistles, psych organs and guitar, and accordion.
And there’s a very Holygroundish surprise ending . . .

One of the shortest tracks on the album follows. Lost in Echoland tumbles into life with echoing guitars and ghostly whispers, and soon descends into a peculiar and short piece of psych-meets-rockdance, but in nine-four time? I ask you!

A peaceful acoustic guitar and harmonica wash in with Chris Coombs’ Learning to Read (Between the Lines) but soon give way to a swirling and guitar laden chorus. Chris’s strange lyrics are in evidence: “As Albert might have said, a little girl found is the counterpart to a big boy lost”. . .

Soft bells, echoes in and a lush orchestra takes you into The Hiding Places (Somewhere Along the Line). Written by Mike and Pete, this song changes each verse, from the plaintive first verse, through the rock ballad of verse two into the reverse flutes and toms of verse three. A song of disclosure and hiding, of past and future : “you and me dangling from the skies, standing alone, picked out by Signs & wayward Spirals”. And there are clocks to keep the time . . .

Desperate Manoeuvres #90 is next: a song where you never quite know where you are. From the sounds of tape being ripped off guitar fretboards and the storming intro, it settles (but only briefly) into a groove of organ and bass and drums. And the words are uncompromising: “don't you hear the chord change? can't you see the frosted trail of broken blades?”. Suddenly you shift musical gear into an eastern sounding riff of Chris Coombs on Turkish Sdaz, Steve Channing on Guitar, and eventually just about everything else from kazoo, sax and drums to strings, Hammond and tubular bells. Out of all this comes the short ending with Pete’s psych guitar and Chris’s magnificent piano and harmonies.

A short ethereal-sounding song follows where the title is almost longer than the song : 2’s About as 15 As I can Go. Written by all three (Levon - Taylor - Coombs), but with additional help from Rose Levon (spider rain inspiration) and the infinity concept from Steve Ware., and a nod to Kurt Vonnegut with its : “so it goes;   with tacked on phrases, no way home ;  no tambourines”.

And so to 30 Watts (Thru a Tear Stained Speaker) , an unashamed twelve bar bash, (actually a 16 bar pentatonic sequence, editor). Len Pete’s song and words : “hey! gotta real hook baby, hard edged, ebony bright”. Listen to the manic solos by Nic Coombs and Eddie Stringer (of Gygafo fame). Vinyl effects bring you back to earth and introduce “side two”: a trio of long songs: Chris Coombs’ Turning the Tables, the brilliant Silence on the Wires and the huge and complex end track, all nineteen minutes of it , with a title to match : 67 Skies and Time to Change (Out-tense) / Cut the Colours, (Just Like Spitalgate Hill).

Turning the Tables  is a ballad with organs and keyboards and a stunning twin guitar solo at the end by Alan Robinson. Musical references abound in the middle part : “playing what I wanna play, turning the tables (subtle subtlety)", sings Chris, as Alan screams the guitar fills. Brilliant harmonies from Chris and a stunning piano part from his son Nic Coombs make this a standout track.

Which is followed by another standout track! This album gets better and better! Silence on the Wires is a Beatley song with expansive words by Mike : “over waves over seas on the sand I sit and stare, with every passing wave it seems forever I've been here”. There is a wonderful bass part, and stunning violas and violins from classical players Raimona and Eno Koço: the part was written by well known classical composer Phil Wilby. Guitars by Pete and Chris sparkle in the middle before the very English dance of  the strings leads you into the last verse and out to the telephone interrupting your dreams of Hollywood.

What can you say about  67 Skies and Time to Change (Out-tense) / Cut the Colours, (Just Like Spitalgate Hill)? Nothing other than listening does it justice so here’s simply a list : reverse things, echoing thoughts, Charlie Speed’s solos (lead guitarist with Gygafo), tabla, digerido, guitars, strings, organs, sax and trumpet, percussion and drums, whiney keys, weaving basses, circling pianos, delicious harmonies and the words, the words!!! Words like :

“there were boundless skies, strangeness & charm”
“67 skies came pouring in this morning through the window's blind“
“cut the colours : close your eyes : see the Signs”
“broken skies and stolen thunder, rainbow beasts have flown”
“looking forward to tomorrow, through the pictures of today”
“there are milestones on the Skyline, there are Circles that we've cleared”

A great album - a worthy follow-up to A to Austr. Here’s to the next one!!!

Len Shannon   Fall, 1999