FLY GLOBAL MUSIC - 'BIRD HEAD SON' REVIEW

Here's a new review from Gerry Hectic @ Fly Global Music.

"Anthony Joseph was called Bird Head Son when he was growing up in Trinidad. Now it’s the name of his second album with his mates from South London, the Spasm Band, that find all of them in a unity of poetry and music; and that means, album of the year candidate!

Especially when the music is as funky hot as Lafayette Afro-Rock Band and with Anthony Joseph poetry, you’re getting close to a modern day equivalent - but even better!

Perhaps ‘better’ is not quite the right phrase; refined sounds a bit too posh for a rough upfunk band but it’s probably what they are. I mean Anthony Joseph is poet -but not that kind of Motion poet - this guys sings Afro-cosmic-centric street spiritualist “drum rhythm symposium” (‘Robberman’).

If this is the first you’ve heard of AJTSB you’re in for a treat. And if you loved Leggo De Lion you’re in for an even bigger treat as this band has got funkier with the addition of Joseph Bowie (he of Defunkt) and jazzier (with David Neerman on vibes - annoyingly too sparsely used) and Afro (with Keziah Jones who featured on Amadou & Mariam’s Welcome To Mali, Bugs In The Attic’s classic ‘Zombie’ and his own track on Osunlade’s The Yoruba Soul Mixes album to mention just three of his past glories).
If you heard ‘River Of Masks’ on Simone Vimercati’s ‘Jazz It Up’ last week, you’ll know what I’m talking about. With echoes of space-time experiments in jazz-funk no-wave (respect Teenage Jesus & The Jerks to James Blood Ulmer; ‘Are You Glad To Be In America?’)

The album crams in loads of stand-out tracks for us thinkers and groovers; soul-struttin’ down the left side of Nu-Orleans side street with a go-go in the air, ‘Conductors Of His Mystery’ (the one with the vibes) that gently blows up with horn arrangements and rock guitar solo (provided by the band’s guitarist, Adrian ‘The Heliocentrics & The Soul Destroyers’ Owusu). The spawn of Roy Ayres into mellow hardcore jazz-funk

With Joseph centre stage vocally, [my father] “came back smelling of the sea”, the band is seriously percussive featuring Paul Zimmerman, Paul Brett and Craig ‘Cigar’ Tamlin’. On the bass, Andrew John is as impressive in his simplicity like on ‘His Hands’ and ‘Two Inch Limbo’ (a track that Colin Webster stretches and screws his sax solo - hey why the fade-out guys?) or the magnificent 12 minutes of ‘Jungle’ that’s sort of them doing a Temptations - blimey this is so good with as batacuda comes to the concrete jungle carnival (with a touch of cuica for good measure)."


Read the full review at Fly Global Music