Pete and Cathy Shrubshall's sax work is brilliant on this dated acid jazz joint
Written: Jun 11 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great horn section work, brilliant flute solos and bari sax leads
Cons: not needed vocals, bad lyrics and ham handed space cadet synthesizers
The Bottom Line: An early example of acid jazz from the UK, the Shrubshall's horn sections are shining and funky. Not their best work, but not bad really.
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| deaser26's Full Review: Blow Job (Doorway to a Rhino's World) - The Powder... |
Certainly one can make a case for the vulgarity of a Powdered Rhino Horn, and then beyond that naming an album "Blo҇ Job (doorway to a rhino's world)" would also seem to qualify as rather leaving oneself somewhat in the buff. But this is the music industry, and this is acid jazz and this is certainly not a world that condemns one for giving one's jazz album or band name a controversial bent. And this is a band that flew out of Chicago and onto the charts in the late nineties, when Acid Jazz was birthing itself and young bloods were discovering old schools.
The Powdered Rhino Horns consist primarily of brother and sister Peter and Catherine Shrubshall. The Shrubshall's make an entire horn section between them; with Pete playing Tenor and Soprano sax as well as a variety of flutes, and Cathy playing Alto and Bari sax, clarinet, harmonica and recorder. They create their massive section sound by doing overdubs, which are repetitive recordings that are later mixed together by engineers. The Shrubshall's horn section was the backbone of Izit, a band that they formed with rhythm help and vocalists.
And so the album Blo҇ Job (Doorway to a Rhino's World), is a 1994 production of woodwind driven funky feeling music. They are joined by Nicola Bright-Thomas, Tony Coleman, Sam Edwards, Jon Fortis, Mike Kearsey, Jennifer Stancliffe and Byron Wallen most of whom played on one of the various Izit projects.
The driving bass lines are cut heavily by sax section work, playing the heads. Pete's flute work is certainly one of their primary points of emphasis, and he synthesizes it a bit on the first cut Astral Visions as well as the third cut, Inner Consternation. This is dance club music, with a clear emphasis on dance - with long DJ intros and a concentrated effort at Break Beat and House. The horns are the band, and the vocals only serve to obfuscate a stunning section.
The second cut is a rehashing of an old Isaac Hayes feeling with some brilliant Bari sax work and lots of flute solo. If you don't watch it you can find your self-entranced with the horns coping licks from Earth Wind and Fire and Henry Mancini. The disco theme is also captured here, and on the Theme from Tokyo Bullet, the two songs are cut from the exact same cloth.
Size of an Elephant reminds you in no uncertain terms that this is early Acid Jazz with movie lines pierced in and pseudo Miles Davis muted trumpet lines. The sax section more than makes up for the unnecessary vocal elements and the silly lyrics.
Edge of a Wave and Break the Equation are Catherine Shrubshall's chance to shine with the Baritone Sax carrying the load, and honking through the groove and over the top of more muted trumpet and thumpy bass lines.
They close with The Other Side, carrying forward their space odyssey theme with spacey synthesizer work, a jarring house beat and then those amazing saxes and flute solos.
This album is something of a study in contrasts. It sounds dated and in many ways is a fine example of early acid jazz or dancefloor jazz. It just comes at a cost, but the horn work is stunning, which is really why we tune into a Shrubshall project in the first place. Not the best thing on earth, and perilously hard to find and expensive, but a collectors piece for sure.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out
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deaser26
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...jazz was never meant to be a museum piece, under glass... Miles Davis
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