SING TO GOD

Duke Ellington said that there are two types of music- good music and the other kind. I concur but for myself would go even further and say there are two types of music-music I like and music I don't like. I really like Cardiacs. Why? Their music is incredibly well crafted, extremely melodic, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes a bit silly (humour does belong in music as Frank Zappa would suggest) sometimes quite moving, challenging in the best possible way and most importantly just plain fun. Sing To God is effectively a summation of their music going back at least to their debut A Little Man but cranks things up a notch which is no doubt why many fans rate this as their best album. Even so the album actually starts with the gentle if slightly weird "Eden In The Air". Then they are off-Track 2 "Eat It Up Worm's Hero" is where the shear lunacy begins. Its mash up of styles sudden stops and starts and what for all intents sounds like a bit of Gregorian chants all in the first minute is surely one of those "Marmite" songs which will either leave you grinning with delight or leave you screaming from the room or huddling in the corner a gibbering wreck clutching your precious "Close To The Edge" LP close to your chest for comfort. Yes my friends- welcome to the wonderful world of Cardiacs. Most of the songs are actually quite short and some are even quite poppy such as "Bellyeye" and "Dog Like Sparky" (which for some reason reminds me of Kate Bush mainly because of the female vocals) but with enough twists and turns to get your teeth into."Manhoo" actually remind me a lot of XTC for some reason and is such a joyful and playful track.Then there is the short but exhilerating instrumental "Bellstinks" which recalls Frank Zappa circa his Uncle Meat period. I particularly love the medieval flavoured "Fairy Mary Mag" with its heavenly mellotron choir and some beautifully detailed instrumentation especially at the end which really could have been Uncle Frank .Particularly affecting is the final track on the first album "Wireless" about a girl on her deathbed. The scissors snips in the background are presumably representing the mortal coil being cut off so she can move on and when the snipping finally does end she is lifted off to heaven accompanied by exquisite keyboard instrumental section, This song is so beautiful and deeply moving. The track which gets the most attention is of course the monumental "Dirty Boy". This song about a messianic figure just sounds HUGE -it just builds and builds with massive chords and continually shifting key signature moving ever higher until the song shifts gear at the five minute mark-well my hair just stands in edge. Genius

A Modern Prog Rock masterpiece