The lengthy sleeve notes to this set record the memorable fact that everyone plays biscuit tins on X=Thingys. Kitchen sinks, more like it, for there is a clutter and chaos about this set that obscures some excellent playing. The personnel is almost a who’s who of modern British jazz, and Ballamy in particular shines throughout. So, too, do the rest, probably, if only one could concentrate long enough on who’s playing what and why. But Bates never lets the music rest for a moment to help the listener make a kind of judgement. Every piece is over-elaborate, with yet more quirky horn lines or one more twist and turn in the melody.
Mixing big band romps from Delightful Precipice with subtle quartet pieces from Human Chain, his two main working bands, Bates seems to be unsure which direction he is heading. As a result, the focus is all awry, pitching the listener from a delightful big-band subversion of the Broadway warhorse New York New York (yes, that one) straight into a subdued Early Bloomer, a poignant quartet number which lasts a mere two minutes and leaves you wanting far more. In places, this set could be a soundtrack to one of those autobiographical and desperately sad Terence Davies movies, elsewhere he appears to sample Miles Davis and rip off Willem Breuker. It might be music to make mayhem to, but a little concentration on the part of the composer would go a long way.
Discography
You Can’t Have Everything; The Loneliness Of Being Right; . . . And A Golden Pear; New York, New York; Early Bloomer; X-Thingys x 3 + ME; Fox Across The Road; Powder Room Collapse; Kookaburra Laughed; You Can’t Have Everything Reprise (66.40)
Julian Arguelles (bar, ss); lain Ballamy (ss, as, ts); Chris Batchelor (t, obpet); Django Bates (p, kyb, Eb horn); Roland Bates (tb); Steve Buckley (ss, as, w); Martin France (d, pc); Sid Gauld (t); Stuart Hall (g, vn, bj); Richard Henry (btb); Sarah Homer (cl, bcl); Dave Laurence (frh); Mark Lockheart (ts, cl); Michael Mondesir (b); Eddie Parker (f, bf); Barak Schmool (ts, picf); Christine Tobin (v). Recorded London, February 1-9, 1995.
(JMT 514-023-2)
