The Blue Aeroplanes

Cavaliers - Swarf Finger - 2001

Tracks: 1. Here We Are 7 2. And The Winner Is… / 3. The Echo Chamber / 4. Cavalier Mien / 5. An Exaltation Of Larks / 6. Comedian / 7. We Kill The King / 8. Where Do All The Good People Go? / 9. The Act Of Indemnity And Oblivion / 10. …And Love Takes Care Of Most Things / 11. Cavalier Mien 2 / 12. Here We Go Again // 1. Jazz Baby / 2. Get Out / 3. Top Of The Pops / 4. Star-Cross’d / 5. Ghosts / 6. Here Comes The Queen / 7. Smiler With The Knyf / 8. Roundheads

Comments:

It may be difficult to form an opinion about The Blue Aeroplanes' "Cavaliers and Roundheads"; as an incarnated fan of the group, I obviously want to look positively at their music, and since I have gradually listened through most of their many albums, I know that there will be flickers in between on each new album, but I also know that they are usually abundantly balanced of the many musical gems that are also always found. So, how about "Cavaliers and Roundheads" from 2000, the group's eighth album? I actually had a lot of trouble finding the album, which apparently was not released in very large number. I did a little research on the album, and discovered that it is often considered one of the group's weakest - perhaps the weakest. I did manage to find the album, and I then discovered that it is actually a double album, where one CD is "Cavaliers" and the other "Roundheads" The CD does not give titles to the 12 tracks on "Cavaliers". Titles can be found, however, on the web though I’m not sure if these titles have got the blue stamp by the band. The CD has a very short playing time of just over 26 minutes and 2-3 of the tracks are very short. There is something sketchy unfinished about most tracks and many have a crass unpolished sound.

It does start off very promising with "Cavaliers 1" ("Here We Are"), which is a nice melodic song with acoustic guitars - in fact the song has most of what I love about the group. The CD actually goes on very nicely and tracks slide out and into each other, and the first two-thirds of the CD is nice listening without being really noticeable; towards the end there come some really odd numbers; and a bit of noise rock - this in itself should not be surprising in connection with The Blue Aeroplanes. When the CD plays out after the 26 minutes, you think, "Was that it"? .

What about "Roundheads" then? Through the booklet notes, you can conclude that it is a collection of obscure rarities. A couple of the tracks have actually been released on EPs, and the nine tracks have been recorded over a long period of time, with contributions from several incarnations of the group. Much of the music is really lo-fi and some tracks sound like they were taken from acetates with needle noise apparent. Aside from their cover version of "Top of the Pops", which makes me think of Alex Chilton's "Bangkok", there's not really anything I want to return to.

All in all, a somewhat disappointing purchase, although there is an odd cozy atmosphere at "Cavaliers", and perhaps an overall theme, which I must admit I have not really tried to figure out.

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