Blaine
L. Reininger has released 10 solo albums and another
dozen with TUXEDOMOON since they started out together in
San Francisco's 1977. This collector set of tunes on LTM
dates back to a pair of concerts in Brussels in 1986,
with Reininger fronting a pick-up band of some quality.
Previously released on Les Disques Crepuscules, the
collection has been remastered and extended with six
more tunes. Five of the extras are from the original
shows, and the closing number "Mystery and Confusion"
has been added from a gig in 1987 (the '86 version being
unusable).
The extraordinary thing about this
recording is its freshness and relevance. You can hear
all the Bowie, the Scott Walker, the (later-to-become)
Jeff Buckley passion for European high art. But the
escape from the denim stink of rock and roll into
something magical, romantic and liberating is much more
compelling and more convincing than in others from the
New Romantic persuasion who had gone before. The sparse
instrumentation is not shackled by the state-of-artness
that puts such excruciating date-stamps on the likes of
Duran Duran or Tears for Fears.
The (newly added)
introduction has a hint of the active pickup bass of
early 80s bass playing, but it’s utterly dominated by an
exquisite violin tune of antique and Middle Eastern
vintage. Random percussion and a very exciting final
crescendo give it an "Oh My God! what's this gig going
to be like?" start to the set. If this is the warm-up,
we're going to be in for something special.
And
so it transpires. 28 years later it really doesn’t feel
like rock archaeology at all. If this stuff turned up in
your toilet venue of choice next weekend, you'd be
drooling. Reininger's voice has Marc Almond archness
with Righteous Brothers soul and operatic range and
colour. His ravishing violin playing comes in when it’s
needed, but is never brandished like a freak show or
stunt.
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"Volo
Vivace" and "Night Air" are stunning. "The Birthday
Song" is a bit more 80's pop video backing track
(maybe). But "What Use?" is big and bouncing and
"Uptown" is a magnificent 14 minutes 38 of extended
improvisation and emotional incitement to set the
dullest hearts ashiver. Daniel Wang's spectral trumpet
and Reininger's vocal agility create something
terrifying and moving that must have been one of the
many influences on Buckley's later escapades. There are
strong Tom Waits parallels (lifts?) too. And if I'm
mentioning Tom Waits at all, then we're obviously taking
this very seriously. Eventually the open shape shifts
into a severely riffed Duane Eddy section that makes the
blood race as it bludgeons its way up hill to massive
emotional proportions before breaking up into fragments
of George Benson's "On Broadway".
After the
carnage of "Uptown" the exceptional tune of "Broken
Fingers" is probably the only thing that could have
followed. It is stunning, with long-term collaborator
Alain Goutier doing strong vocal support and that
sumptuous violin breaking every heart in the
building.
Tracks 8 through 12 are possibly lesser
objects, but they approach stellar proportions
nonetheless. "Ash and Bone" is as poignant a song about
a band breaking up as you will ever hear. I don;t
suppose that this album is going to be top 40, but it
would make a real plunder chest for any contemporary
band on the look-out for fresh ways of upping the
pop/rock ante. It would also sit very well in any
serious collection that doesn’t already know about this
stuff.
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