Judge Smith and his latest album "requiem Mass"

[thedunno]

I can not remember I have ever seen a thread about Chris Judge Smith here on PE. Time for a change!

He is probably one of the most unprolific progressive rock artist around. Mostly known as one of the founding members of VDGG (although he never played on one of the official albums) and as the writer of several hammill songs like 'been alone so long', 'Time for a change' and 'Four pails'. Over the last 15 to 20 years he has been regulary releasing albums under his own name.


I have 3 of them. First there is 'Curly's Airhip'; probably his magnum opus. A concept album over 2 CDs with several guest vocalists ( Like Hammill and Lene Lovich) and various VDGG musicians. The album does not sound anything like VDGG though. This is a very varied and very wordy affair. I like it a lot but it took me some time to get used to.
The second album I got is 'The Climber'; again a concept album (or 'song story' as he calls them) This album just has a Danish man choir and Judge Smith singing. No other instruments. Interesting stuff.
The 3th is Zoot suit. This is not a concept album but a collection of songs. Probably his most mainstream sounding album of the three. This it is very varied and overall good songs. Produced by david minnick; a name which might ring a bell with Cardiacs fans.

All those 3 albums are very different, which is a good thing. The one thing that kept them from becoming real favorites is the voice of Judge Smith. he is by no means a bad singer but he sounds so extremely civilized ( by the lack of a better word). I like vocals that are a bit rougher around the edges. Anyway, this is just a matter of personal preference and a not matter of quality. The quality of the songwriting is, as far as I can judge, pretty high throughout.

And now there is a new one 'requiem mass'. Again, this one is completely different.
Apparently this piece was already written in 1975 but never recorded or performed. The positive side (for me): Judge Smith is not singing on this one. All the vocals are by a full choir and solo parts by a baritone voice. The band consists of bass, drums, 2 guitars and a more sparsely used brass section. If it weren't for the choir and baritone I would say this is a typical 70ies rock album! Lotsa heavy riffin' going on!
The negative it is only a half hour long. The positive is that it is not longer then it needs to be. The danger with albums like this is that it can easily sound kitschy. I do not have this problem with requiem mass. I played it three times in a row yesterday and I think it simply sounds very cool.

There are not many samples available but check it out on:
http://www.judge-smith.com/RequiemMass/index.php

Joost

[Oreb]

I can not remember I have ever seen a thread about Chris Judge Smith here on PE. Time for a change!

Back when we had reviews I did a rave for Curly's Airship. I still think it's a thoroughly sucessful piece of work.

I got the follow-up, Orpheus, which, unfortunately I found unspeakably bad.

[flytomars]

Thanks for the heads up!
I have most of his albums (I think I am only missing the vessica message),
I actually think the opposite about his voice- he is a bad singer but I like his vocals, they are so british and silly.
My favourite albums are Democrazy (which also feature an original recording from the 70s of one track from Requiem Mass with Judge on vocals) and also Dome Of Discovery (if you can get past the cheasy synth sounds, thus one has some great songwriting on it)