PAGEANT OF BEASTS

I'm a bit surprised to see this album--from a modern "Canterbury"-style band--receiving no reviews yet. This is the (I thought) popular band's third album since their debut in 2015.

1. Golden Beasts (0:30) horns like Chicago or Frogg Café! Nice album intro (though might've been better as an interlude). (4/5)

2. "Here Come the Moles" (4:55) funk with horns! Tower of Power, the JBs, or Billie Preston. But then female vocalist Sophie Sexon (or is it Lavinia Blackwell?) joins in in the third minute displaying her pretty but very pitchy voice. (8.5/10)

3. "Man Overboard" (3:46) light, fun, and melodic like the fun side of Canterbury--with horns. Sounds most like Dutch band SUPERSISTER. A top three song. (9/10)

4. "Smoking Again" (3:51) raspy male vocalist reminds me more of a blues-rock singer like Dr. John or What is this? (7.75/10)

5. "Willow's Song" (3:33) never thought I'd hear this song from anyone other than DOVES. Though an okay arrangement, the song put on display the flaws in female vocalist Sophie Sexon's pitch-imperfect voice. (7.75/10) 6. "Red Rum" (3:03) horns with bluesy guitar and rhythm section. Once again, I'm reminded of FROGG CAFÉ-- without the vocals. (8.5/10) 7. "All Alone Stone" (5:24) gorgeous flugelhorn, trumpet and Fender Rhodes-led intro leads into sensitive KHAN/MAGIC BUS-like song. Very nice piano chord progressions and fuzz bass/space guitar. A top three song for me. (8.75/10)

8. "Magistellus" (4:17) jazz-rock (with background horns) and double female lead vocalists makes for a pleasant song. The compositions are showing signs of greater sophistication. (8.5/10)

9. "Wyverns" (4:31) sounds like a wild stage jam with several riffs and themes starting and shifting seemingly unbeknownst to the other players. Somehow, it all kind of works. (8.25/10) 10. "Bouffant Tail" (1:12) should have been titled something like "male soloists jizz on a chalkboard." (2/5)

11. "Cat Fool" (3:20) the song Burt Bacharach and Daevid Allen never recorded together (or apart). Now we know why. (8/10)

12. "Too Much Belly Not Enough Paw" (0:45) very nice cinematic outro. (4.5/5)

Total Time 39:07

C/three stars; some nice music to try out for yourselves.

One of the things which makes Big Hogg stand out from so many bands is their heavy use of brass and woodwind, so much so that I am sure this is the first time I have ever seen anyone listed as playing second flugelhorn. This Canterbury- style band produce music which probably sounded out of place by the mid-Seventies, let alone in 2021 when this was released. For this their third album they have now brought Martin Beer into the band, and this is inspired as his touch on both electric and double bass is sublime, often holding the melodic line together and providing that crucial lynch pin with the drums. The sextet all have multiple roles, and then they have used another six musicians, and with this there is the impression that something got lost in translation.

It feels somewhat smothering at times, as if there is just too much going on for anyone to really make sense of it, with different elements over-riding others as opposed to enhancing them. This makes it quite a dense album to take in, and the vocals are not as good as they might be, sometimes quavering and missing pitch which combine to make this often quite a difficult listen. There are times when the music is genuinely interesting and inspired whereas at others I found myself wondering just how much longer it was until the end of the album, which is never a good place to be. This is the first Big Hogg album I have come across so cannot comment if this is better or worse than the others to date, but for me the overall result is something which is listenable as background music but not one to which I can see myself readily returning.