The Bevis Frond

[GuitarGeek]

So, a couple weeks ago, I figured out that all the Bevis Frond stuff was on Bandcamp. I have a few of their old albums, I even have Triptych on LP. But I never got around to getting more, even though I quite liked the albums I heard.

So I waited until today to order most of the early stuff. I grabbed all the early stuff, up through Any Gas Faster, except for The Auntie Winnie Album, which I already have on CD (on Reckless Records!). So at the moment I'm listening to Miasma for the first time. Very solid debut. I'd never known the story about how Nick Saloman basically used part of the money he'd gotten from a settlement after a roadside accident to buy the Portastudio he recorded the early stuff on.

Anyway, so the next couple days I think is gonna be Bevis Frond heavy.

[Mascodagama]

I've been a fan for almost 30 years. Nick is a great songwriter and sublime guitarist. My favourite is still New River Head, an overlooked classic IMO.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Superseeder from '95.

Displays -all- of his assets and features a proper band counting Andy Ward on drums. Dirty, crunchy guitars in a wall-of-sound procedure, noisier than much of his earlier stuff but also highlighting some truly memorable melodies. I remember spinning this halfway to death back in the day, as it was one of the first CDs I got after finally buying a player that very same year of release.

[GuitarGeek]

I've been a fan for almost 30 years. Nick is a great songwriter and sublime guitarist. My favourite is still New River Head, an overlooked classic IMO.

I've been a fan for around the same amount of time too. I think it must have been something like 90 or 91 when I got my LP copy of Triptych. I can't account for why I didn't get more of Nick's albums back then, other than that here was just so much music, and I had even less money than I do now. It seems like at least a few of those records passed through my hands, probably at Record Exchange, and but for whatever reason, that was the only one I bought at first.

New River Head is one of the ones I have on CD, having bought a used copy back in 1994 (same time I got my copy of the Auntie Winnie Album). And I've got Valedictory Songs around here someplace. Oh yeah, and I have the Ear Song EP too, the one with the live tracks with what's essentially 3/5's of Magic Muscle backing Nick.

[dt2]

I have ~20 of his albums. My particular faves are London Stone (1992) & Valedictory Songs (2000)

[moecurlythanu]

I too have been a fan since the early 90s. I was very lucky to see the Frond live on their USA tour in the late 90s (1998?) Certainly nothing I would ever have expected. I haven't listened to many of the recent albums yet, but have most of them. Of the ones I know, my favorite is It Just Is, followed by London Stone and Any Gas Faster. While those aren't as overtly Psychedelic as some of the earlier albums, for me they contain the best of Nick's songwriting.

[FrippWire]

Count me as a fan. I even sat two seats away from him on a flight from SXSW in Austin, TX one year. He was interesting to talk to and a nice guy. I'm overdue for a binge.

[GuitarGeek]

[QUOTE=moecurlythanu;1006418]I too have been a fan since the early 90s. I was very lucky to see the Frond live on their USA tour in the late 90s (1998?)

At Speak In Tongues, right? I remember someone saying they saw them there, which pissed me off, because I don't remember even knowing about the show happening. As I recall, Speak In Tongues had virtually no advertising.

I was trying ot remember how I got into them, and I think, like with Djam Karet, Phish, and a few others, I must have read a review or two in Relix magazine, and then like I said, I found some of the early stuff at a local record store.

[moecurlythanu]

Yes Chris, it was at Speak In Tongues. Only show I ever saw there, I think. Pretty much a hole in the wall. Great show though, and Nick was really sweet and gracious after the show. I think I got a couple discs signed.

They got a lot of run in Ptolemaic Terrascope, so you may have seen them there.

[GuitarGeek]

Yes Chris, it was at Speak In Tongues. Only show I ever saw there, I think. Pretty much a hole in the wall. Great show though, and Nick was really sweet and gracious after the show. I think I got a couple discs signed.

Yeah, "Speak In Tongues", was actually some sort of DIY arts/music production...whatever, I don't even know what to call it. The bar they used as their venue actually had some other name, and SIT would just use it for a few times a month or whatever for shows. That's why you couldn't find a phone number for Speak In Tongues in the Yellow Pages, because the place was listed on whatever the bar's proper name was. So with a low budget, and pre-internet, there really wasn't any way to find out about shows, unless you happened to hear someone rattle of the upcoming shows on WRUW or WCSB.

They got a lot of run in Ptolemaic Terrascope, so you may have seen them there.

Never read Ptolemaic Terrascope. I'm pretty sure it had to be Relix, they used to review all kinds of that magazine, I remember seeing reviews of Ozric Tentacles, Hawkwind, Zappa, Black Sun Ensemble and as I said, Djam Karet, and a not yet famous Phish in Relix. I might have seen The Bevis Frond mentioned in Rolling Stone (believe it or not, in the late 80's and 90's, somebody at the magazine was hip enough to talk about Djam Karet, The Legendary Pink Dots and Can), though I really don't remember now.

[moecurlythanu]

So with a low budget, and pre-internet, there really wasn't any way to find out about shows, unless you happened to hear someone rattle of the upcoming shows on WRUW or WCSB.

I don't recall how I found out about it. Probably a DIY flyer pinned on the wall at one of the local Record or CD stores, but that's just a guess.

[Scrotum Scissor]

They got a lot of run in Ptolemaic Terrascope, so you may have seen them there.

Ptolemaic (IIRC) was distributed by Saloman's label Woronzow and he himself was a prominent contributor. I mean, that's the way things were back when the "revival" thing was happening in the late 80s/early 90s. Bands and artists formed their own labels, mags, and festivals (like Saloman's and Ptolemaic-editor Phil McMullen's very own and quite renowned Terrastock). This was even before we were as lucky as to get highly progressive acts appearing aboard fabulous cruise-ships.

[GuitarGeek]

I don't recall how I found out about it. Probably a DIY flyer pinned on the wall at one of the local Record or CD stores, but that's just a guess.

Yeah, there ya go, by that time, I was doing most of my CD shopping at either Best Buy, Circuit City or Borders, because Wax Stax had closed, and Record Revolution and Record Exchange weren't as interesting as they used to be. And I wasn't listening to college radio much, so any announcement I might have heard went right over my head.

Anyway, so I listened to Inner Marshland today, and I was surprised to realize I recognized Once More. I'm sure I must have heard that on WRUW way back when, it might have even been on one of the tapes I recorded from one of the broadcasts (possibly on a VHS tape I recorded by hooking the VCR up to the receiver so I could record late night radio without staying up for it).

Anyway, I'm onto Bevis Through The Looking Glass now.

[moecurlythanu]

I probably have the review of the gig from Scene around here somewhere. Finding it might prove difficult, though. I do remember the gig got a positive review, but recall their description of the audience as "aging hipsters." Up yours, buddy.

[revporl]

I'm a long time fan. I think my favourite album is North Circular, although New River Head and London Stone run it close for me. A brilliant songwriter, sadly with a higher profile among other songwriters than the public.

[moecurlythanu]

It's exceedingly cool that Nick puts one original Folk song on each of his albums. I'd like to see the release of a whole album of such material. I wonder if he's ever considered it?

[headcrash]

Love Saloman. I know he's mostly associated with psychedelic guitar rave-ups, but "Thankless Task" on New River Head is one of the most beautiful, melodic songs I've heard.

[spacefreak]

Superseeder from '95..

His last really great album. He did some interesting ones later on (like The Leaving of London or White Numbers) but he never really recaptured the spirit of the 1987-1995 years in full bloom.

He still remains a monster, live.

[spacefreak]

Ptolemaic (IIRC) was distributed by Saloman's label Woronzow and he himself was a prominent contributor. I mean, that's the way things were back when the "revival" thing was happening in the late 80s/early 90s. Bands and artists formed their own labels, mags, and festivals (like Saloman's and Ptolemaic-editor Phil McMullen's very own and quite renowned Terrastock). This was even before we were as lucky as to get highly progressive acts appearing aboard fabulous cruise-ships.

His best ever song (to my ears) High in a Flat, was on a split 7" with Dream Syndicate that came out on Nick West's "Bucketfull Of Brains" zine. Oh, I miss those days...

[spacefreak]

It's exceedingly cool that Nick puts one original Folk song on each of his albums. I'd like to see the release of a whole album of such material. I wonder if he's ever considered it?

I wish he does. When he goes folky he drops moments of pure gold...

[Zappathustra]

Does anyone else spot a - slight - vocal similarity to Peter Gabriel or is it just me?

[moecurlythanu]

Does anyone else spot a - slight - vocal similarity to Peter Gabriel or is it just me?

It's just you.

[Zappathustra]

It's just you.

You're so cruel.

I can't nail it though. It's something in the way he pronounces the words maybe.

Great band by the way. Were they part of a movement back then, or did they ride the tide on their own?

[moecurlythanu]

Great band by the way. Were they part of a movement back then, or did they ride the tide on their own?

No, there were others plowing the same field. Nick started the Woronzow label, and released some similar and/or Neo-Psych bands, such as Bari Watts's Hendrix fueled band Outskirts of Infinity. Some of the bands on the label are more whimsical and not as heavy, but if you go YouTubing down this particular river, you should find some things to like.

https://www.discogs.com/label/39074-Woronzow?page=1

[Hour Candle]

I just love Nick's music. Period. Great stuff!