Bevis Frond New River Head CD

Though Nick Saloman can never be said to necessarily, or at least obviously, progress from release to release, he does have a knack for ensuring that each Bevis Frond album has something interesting. It's when he puts everything together to create a consistently strong record that notice is due, and Frond's 1991 effort stands out in that regard. His slightly mournful, weary vocals remain unchanged, as does the general feeling of pop/psych-rock with jamming tendencies. The core duo of Martin Crowley on drums and Saloman on everything else also continues, supplemented by a variety of guest performers. There's just that little something more here, though, that marks New River Head as a good starting point for anyone interesting in discovering more about the Frond. The first couple of songs are mostly Saloman-by-the-numbers, but then he hits a great winning streak, starting with "Waving," a gentle folk ballad which adds a violin for an effect that's just melancholy enough and results in an honestly heart-catching little track. Following that is the title song, a strong feedback crunch that welds Saloman's ear for a good hook with his considerable playing abilities well. The disc continues in the same, fine general vein from that point on, ranging from the Byrds-inflected guitar chime of "He'd Be a Diamond" to the soft, then shroomy, head-nodding "Stain on the Sun." The standout is "The Miskatonic Variations II," a nearly 17-minute ambient-to-full-blown-noise jam recorded with a guest bassist, guitarist, and sax player, not to mention Current 93's lead figure, David Tibet, adding some chants on top of it all. Throw in a variety of other niceties here and there, like the brief garage-rock blasts "Undertaker" and "Chinese Burn," and New River Head winds up being a slice of Frond at his high-powered best. ~ Ned Raggett

The Beve's early catalog reissue program continues apace, only now they're starting to get to the cream of the crop. This 1990 LP is the record that put Nick Saloman on the map, via timely release here on Restless, with a batch of up and down rockets that contained a few uncontestable gems, which thankfully utterly failed to go unnoticed! (Even those who bought the LP 13-years-ago will find reason for purchase. Recalling that the original issue was edited to fit on one disc, this new remastered reissue restores the original length and 21-song playing order, which takes two CDs to accomplish. Additionally, that's all followed by nine bonus tracks, including the original bonus single Saloman gave away with his U.K. vinyl edition, three rougher demo versions, and four unreleased tracks. Bonanza!) For those investigating New River Head for the first time, it was recorded via the standard Saloman operating procedure of the day, for good and for bad. Other than drums, he does just about the whole LP himself; all the vocals, guitar and bass, organ, electric piano, and, while he was at it, the stark nuclear winter photography for the sleeve. But it was only the second LP he'd done in a proper studio, and it was his hands-down best 'til then (and would remain so for a decade, until 2000's triumphant, full band Valedictory Songs). Like all early Frond, it jumps around way too much (with a couple of lengthy psychedelic instrumental jams that grow as tedious as they were already pointless, totally disrupting the LP's momentum!), and in fact, the edited version was less sporadic. But there's still a songwriting brilliance afoot, climaxing in Saloman's career pinnacles, the achingly beautiful "He'd Be a Diamond" and rare love song "Stain on the Sun." Purchase is warranted for the '60s-esque pop perfection of the former alone, so great that Teenage Fanclub not only recorded it (as did chronic Saloman coverer Mary Lou Lord), but they've all but spent their post-Grand Prix replicating its siren-like qual

Expanded Edition - 2 Cds W/ 9 Bonus Tracks.

The Bevis Frond: Nick Saloman (vocals, guitar, electric piano, organ, bass).

AdditionaOption (1-2/92) - Recommended - "...Saloman pens lyrically crisp songs and plays spacey guitar solos that go on and on, reminiscent at various times of Jimi Hendrix, Syd Barrett, and other psychedelic pyrotechnicians....none of the 14 songs here are throwaways."
Mojo (Publisher) (12/03, p.132) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Saloman's skills both as virtuoso guitarist and a songwriter in the great English tradition of Lennon & McCartney, Ray Davies and Syd Barrett are abundantly apparent here."