The 1982 Listening Post - The 49 Americans - We Know Nonsense

 Reviewed by Tom Mott / LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

Released: 1982 The 49 Americans We Know Nonsense Genre: Faux-Naïf Avant Garde Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Highlights: Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee Edible Liberty In 1985-86, hot on the heels of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, I was flipping through bins at Rhino Records and came across a mysterious 10" EP entitled "The Melody Four? Si Señor!" The Melody Four only had three members. That was my first clue. Quirky, funny liner notes. Someone playing euphonium. DIY album art. And best of all, a cover of "Brazil." What did I end up with? Amateurish singing, lovely bizarre free-jazz saxophones, and simple "lite latin rhythms" like you'd hear from a home organ entertainment system. I loved it. And in the pre-Internet world, it remained a beguiling mystery. Nobody else knew anything about it until I met an Icelandic artist in the mid-90s who exclaimed "NAY WHOA! How do you know The Melody Four? I thought I was the only one!" That 10" was my secret treasure. Still is. Over the years I would learn that the three principals -- Steve Beresford, Lol Coxhill, and Tony Coe -- all came out of the Canterbury Scene and the London Musicians' Collective. (For reference: imagine Fred Frith or Robert Fripp putting out an album of amateurish-yet-loving latin standards.) I've never heard anything else like it. Ever. Even *other* Melody Four albums don't measure up to "The Melody Four? Si Señor!" --------------------- Until now. The 49 Americans "We Know Nonsense." Amateurish singing. Simple songs with unexpected quirks and layers. Fun "Latin lite" rhythms. There's Steve Beresford with his euphonium. There's Lol Coxhill with his mellifluous, wandering saxophone lines. There's also some toy piano, a chorus of happy singers, Viv Albertine (The Slits), Vivien Goldman ("Launderette"), and a host of other names I don't recognize. It's a DIY supergroup! There's bossa nova, samba, doo wop, surf music, a mish-mosh of genres. I adore it. The lead female vocalist (I believe it's Etta Saunders) has an absolutely beguiling voice. (Track 3 "Edible") A couple attempts at describing the sound: 1. Some seasoned avant garde musicians heard Rip Rig + Panic's first album "God," thought "ehh, far too many notes" and said "hold my beer". 2. More Specials crossed with Young Marble Giants and Marine Girls. 3. A happy backyard family sing-along, except your family happens to include Brian Eno, Ornette Coleman, and the Teletubbies. I'm in love. Not just with the music, but the overall stance/politics: Make art! Have fun! Everyone has something to contribute! I just ordered the album. ------------------- P.S. Andrew "Giblet" Brenner, the main force behind this album, went on to be the story editor of Thomas & Friends (i.e. Thomas the Tank Engine) for 10 years. Lol Coxhill and Steve Beresford have both put out tons of recordings over the past 30 years that are worth dipping your toes in.

The 1980 Listening Post - The 49 Americans - E Pluribus Unum

 Reviewed by Jim Coursey

Released: 1980 The 49 Americans E Pluribus Unum Genre: 20+ Jazz Punk Not-So-Greats Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Beat Up Russians That Man Should Be More Ideal The Musical: I Don’t Want (Royal Children) “My buddy set up a recording studio in his kitchen. You bring the horns, I’ll bring the guitar. He’s got the piano, spoons and pots.” Well, at least that’s how I imagine disc 1 of “E Pluribus Unum” went down. If 1982’s “We Know Nonsense” was playful, amateurish, and hard to pin down, this album sounds like the rehearsal. It’s what the likes of Andrew "Giblet" Brenner, David Toop, Steve Beresford, Max Eastley, Lol Coxhill and Peter Cusack, Viv Albertine, and Vivien Goldman do when they are bored. “E Pluribus Unum” is not a bad listen, and I have a soft spot for this kind of project, but it wears thin fast. The music fully embraces punk’s anarchic DIY-ism while ignoring its anger or instrumentation. While you get the sense some people can play their instruments, there’s a lot of beginner horn work here. At its best it sounds like demos for a jazz band, and at worst it sounds like someone pressed record while they were learning to play a song – “Sounds Like Ska” sure reminds me of someone aimlessly riffing on pieces of Wall of Voodoo’s “Dark Continent” for example. The lyrics are generally the best of it – often sarcastic, such as the faux patriotism of “Beat Up Russians” to the “mistakes were made” blame-shifting of “That Man.” Whatever one thinks of disc one, disc two is simply not worth listening to. A recording of a musical, it sounds like someone staged a play in a large parlor and placed a single mic at the far end from most of the action, and then didn’t bother to adjust the levels as sound sources go from closer to farther to closer again. It’s like the auditory equivalent of rifling through a few rolls of bad, grainy Kodak disc photos, you clearly had to be there to make anything out of this one. The only nominally well recorded component is the narration, which isn’t saying much – “well I can’t tell where you are but the digital date stamp on those photos is clear.” The only enjoyable moment for me was the very short ditty “I Don’t Want (Royal Children)”, in which some young princes and princesses sing about not wanting to be “et” by dragons. The rest was a wash, and I tried to pretend it didn’t exist or were merely “bonus tracks” when I rated the album.