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One of Britain's most original ensembles of progressive-rock in the 1970s
was Slapp Happy. Founded by keyboardist Anthony Moore to accompany his German
wife Dagmar Krause's soulful melodies, Slapp Happy debuted with
Sort Of (Polydor, 1972).
Notable in the original line-up was American guitarist
Peter Blegvad, who was in Britain
to complete his studies. The rhythm section was borrowed from German friends
Faust. They reached their zenith with the superb
Acnalbasac Noom (Polydor, 1973), a collection of surreal and
Kurt Weill-inspired expressionist cabaret ditties:
Casablanca Moon (vaguely reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin's music),
Me And Paravati (a singalong that evoked both girl-groups and Aretha Franklin, and Kate Bush ante-litteram),
Michelangelo (a catchy, heavily cadenced refrain a` la Petula Clark
that extends into a blues-rock jam),
Half Way There (a swinging nostalgic Broadway-style number).
Krause sounds like the typical ye-ye girl of the Sixties, and the rhythm
section sounds like the average kids of the "piper".
Then the band merged with
Henry Cow. The combined line-up came up with two
summaries of the vocabulary of progressive-rock:
Desperate Straights (Virgin, 1975) and
In Praise Of Learning (Virgin, 1975).
At the end of that experience, and after re-arranging some of their songs on
Slapp Happy (Virgin, 1974), the members of Slapp Happy started their solo
careers.
Peter Blegvad was the one who fully betrayed the original spirit of Slapp Happy.
First, he collaborated with John Greaves on
Kew Rone (Europa, 1976 - Virgin, 1977), a collection of linguistic
nonsenses (sung by Lisa Herman) enhanced with an impressive ensemble of rock
and jazz musicians (Andrew Cyrille, Michael Mantler, Carla Bley, etc).
The music is as witty as the "lyrics".
With The Naked Shakespeare (Virgin, 1983) Blegvad endorsed
XTC's neo-pop programme
(The Naked Shakespeare, You Can't Miss It,
Powers In The Air, Lonely Too,
How Beautiful You Are).
After a second endeavour in that style, Knights Like This (Virgin, 1985),
that contains Meet The Rain and Special Delivery
but is marred by overproduction,
Blegvad moved to New York and enrolled in the
Golden Palominos.
He proved his gift as a pensive and tender songwriter on two humbler
and more tuneful collections:
Downtime (Recommended, 1988), crafted by Chris Cutler and containing
Not Weak Enough,
and King Strut (Silvertone, 1990), that exploited
his favorite line-up of John Greaves and Chris Cutler and
mitigated the pop vision of his first album with quick references to Bob Dylan
(Meantime, Shift And The Comb, King Strut).
Blegvad's tunes rely quite a bit on the lyrics (influenced by the poetry of
Surrealism), and this has its pros and its cons.
Blegvad also collaborated with John Greaves, who had released
Accident (Europa, 1982), probably his masterpiece and not all too
different from Blegvad's own collections,
Parrot Fashions (Europa, 1984)
and Longhouse (Warner, 1988), and the
two eventually formed Lodge, that released
Smell Of A Friend (Antilles, 1988).
Greves will later record
La Petite Bouteille De Linge (La Lichere, 1991),
Greaves Cunningham (Eva, 1991), a collaboration with David Cunningham,
Songs (Resurgence, 1995), that collects new and old compositions,
The Caretaker (Resurgence, 2001).
Blegvad and Greaves released another collaboration,
Unearthed (Sub Rosa, 1995), where Greaves sets to music a collection of
Blegvad fiction.
Blegvad's next solo albums,
Just Woke Up (ReR, 1995), with Bee Dream and another parade of
surrealistic/Dylan-esque dreams,
and Hangman's Hill (ReR, 1998), were both
created with help from John Greaves and Chris Cutler
(The Marvellous In The Everyday, Man Overboard),
and still display Blegvad's characteristic charm, originality and vagueness.
Moore, Blegvad and Krause reformed Slapp Happy to record
Ca Va (V2, 1998).
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Paolo Latini)
Uno dei più originali ensemble del rock
progressivo
degli anni '70 sono stati gli Slapp Happy. Fondati dal chitarrista
Anthony
Moore per accompagnare i lieder Brecht-iani della sua moglie
tedesca, Dagmar
Krause, gli Slapp Happy debuttano con Sort Of (Polydor,
1972).
Notevole,
nella line-up
originale, il chitarrista americano Peter
Blegvad,
che si trovava in Inghilterra per completare i suoi studi. La
sezione ritmica
era presa in prestito dagli amici tedeschi Faust. Dopo
il superbo Acnalbasac Noom (Polydor, 1973), una raccolta di
cabaret
surreali ed espressionistici (Casablanca Moon, A Little
Something,
Slow Moon's Rose), la band si unisce agli Henry
Cow. Le due line-up fuse assieme realizzaono due antologie del
vocabolario
del progressive-rock: Desperate Straights (Virgin, 1975) e
In Praise
Of Learning (Virgin, 1975). Alla fine dell'esperienza, e dopo
aver ri-arrangiato
alcune delle loro canzoni su Slapp Happy (Virgin, 1974), gli
elementi
del gruppo si separano e cominciano le loro carriere soliste.
Peter Blegvad fu l'unico a continuare pienamente lo spirito degli
Slapp
Happy. Prima, collabora con John Greaves su Kew Rone (Europa,
1976
- Virgin, 1977), una raccolta di nonsense linguistici (cantati da
Lisa Herman)
suonato da un impressionate ensemble di musicisti jazz e rock
(Andrew Cyrille,
Michael Mantler, Carla Bley, etc). La musica è ingegnosa
quanto lo
sono i "testi". Con The Naked Shakespeare (Virgin,
1983)
Blegvad abbraccia il neo-pop programmatico degli XTC
(The Naked Shakespeare, You Can't Miss It, Powers
In The
Air, Lonely Too, How Beautiful You Are). Dopo una
seconda
prova in quel genere, Knights Like This (Virgin, 1985), che
contiene
Meet The Rain and Special Delivery ma impoverito dauna
sovrapruduzione
ingombrante, Blegvad si trasferisce New York ed entra nei Golden
Palominos.
Blegvad dimostra di essere un cantautore tenere e profondo con due
umili
e più orecchiabili dischi: Downtime (Recommended,
1988), con
l'aiuto di Chris Cutler e contenente Not Weak Enough, e
King Strut
(Silvertone, 1990), che sfrutta la line-up da lui preferita, con
John Greaves
e Chris Cutler e attenua il sostrato pop del suo primo albu, con
veloci riferimenti
a Bob Dylan (Meantime, Shift And The Comb, King
Strut).
I motivi di Blegvad danno poca importanza ai testi (influenzati
dalla poesia
surrealista), e in questo ha i suoi pro e contro.
Blegvad continua a collaborare con John Greaves, col quale
realizza Accident
(Europa, 1982), probabilmente il suo capolavoro e non troppo
distante dallo
stile dello stesso Blegvad, Parrot Fashions (Europa, 1984) e
Longhouse
(Warner, 1988), quindi i due formano i Lodge, che realizzano
Smell Of A
Friend (Antilles, 1988). Greves poi registrerà La
Petite Bouteille
De Linge (La Lichere, 1991), Greaves Cunningham (Eva,
1991), una
collaborazione con David Cunningham, Songs (Resurgence,
1995), che
raccoglie composizioni vecchie e nuove, The Caretaker
(Resurgence,
2001).
Blegvad e Greaves collaborano ancora su Unearthed (Sub
Rosa, 1995),
in cui Greaves mette in musica una raccolta di racconti di Blegvad.
Il seguente album solista di Blegvad, Just Woke Up (ReR,
1995), con
Bee Dream e un'altra parata di sogni surrealistico/Dylaniani,
e Hangman's
Hill (ReR, 1998), furono entrambi realizzati con l'aiuto di John
Greaves
e Chris Cutler (The Marvellous In The Everyday, Man
Overboard),
e mostrano ancora lo charme caratteristico di Blegvad, fatto di
vaghezza ed
originalità.
Moore, Blegvad e Krause riformano gli per registrare Ca Va
(V2, 1998).
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