RES IPSA LOQUITOR - Angie Pepper (Career/Citadel)
Been living with a rough mix of eight songs from this, the actual debut album
for Angie Pepper for the best part of 16 months. (Technically, the previous
"It's Just That I Miss You" was a split LP by the Passengers and the Angie Pepper
Band). 
Except
when the disc went missing - thankfully briefly - in a pile of junk, it's been
constantly on the sound system. And with good reason because this is ace stuff.
The work of three all-star backing bands over a period of about eight years,
it covers a lot of turf but hangs together beautifully. "Res Ipsa Loquitor"
(translated, it means "it speaks for itself") touches on "Pet Sounds"-era Beach
Boys psychedelica ("Cool Sea", "Heart"), Stonesy blues-rock (the poppy "Baby
Don't Go") and girl group pop ("Doesn't Seem Right", "Kiss Me Sailor") with
echoes of Blondie, the Crystals and the Shangri-las.
The accent is on clever, memorable melodies and some superb combination playing.
Angie and husband Deniz Tek figure on all tracks. Four involve Deniz's Aussie
solo band collaborators Jim Dickson and Nik Rieth (who burned frequent fliers
to go to Montana and record), augmented by keyboards, cellos, loops and sax
from a collective too large to mention. Suffice to say that Deniz's longtime
Montana studio wiz/co-songwriter/keyboardist Dave Weyer is among them. Jim Dickson's
presence is fitting, given that he was bass player in Angie's old band, the
Passengers, back in Sydney in the late '70s.
Four other cuts bring in the killer psych combo that is Donovan's Brain. Tony
Horton and Todd Eagle, who worked on the criminally under-appreciated Deniz
Tek "Equinox" album, play on a cover of the Lipstick Killers' "Hindu Gods (of
Love)", complete with jazzy organ bridge.
There are 10 tracks, three of them covers and another a makeover of a song from
"Equinox" (the compelling "Moon"). "Trying to Find Your Love" I've never heard
before but if the original (which is on a live-in-the-UK Link Wray bootleg)
is as good as this, it's worth chasing down. There's room aplenty for a magic
Angie vocal and a killer guitar solo from the Iceman. The other re-make is a
Diane Renay song, "Kiss Me Sailor", about which I again have to plead ignorance,
but comes across on the back of lilting Crystals-styled melody done in fine
style.
Opening track "Baby Don't Go" mixes keyboards, chiming guitar and a haunting
vocal to open the album in great style. This is not a million miles from the
Angie Pepper Band tracks of Sydney in the early '80s, at least two of which
remain unreleased (and might have made a nice bonus). I'm still in two minds
about which "Moon" I prefer - the version on "Equinox" or this - but either
is a deceptively dreamy piece of pop with an underbelly of dark paranoia.
The "Humid Air" that appears here, as opposed to the rough mix I heard, is a
strange and very different beast. There's an extended bridge and a breakdown
where all sorts of loops and voices populate the soundscape (including a passage
that marks the recording debut for Angie's daughter, Hana). While my jury's
still out on that one, the languid "Cool Sea", benefits from some deft studio
tinkering. Another observation: Angie hasn't laid down many better vocals than
the one on the downbeat "Rockslide".
If you're wondering why there are two labels involved, Career
Records is marketing the album outside Australia and Citadel
is doing the business Down Under. Either will send you a copy, pronto, if
your local Ma and Pa store can't oblige.
Don't expect Birdman with female vox or anything so obvious. This is a sophisticated
mix of cool '60s and 70s pop and rock sounds, with a nod to contemporary forms.
It's both adventurous and familiar. Open your ears. - The
Barman
IT'S JUST THAT I MISS YOU - Angie Pepper/Passengers (Citadel)
Ever since Irv Girshman laid that Detroit Cobras disc on me, it seems like I've
been on a chick-rock binge. Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that my third
attempt at making an original-focused band with an old comrade (Seattle grunge
gtr guy who temporarily served as a blues bassplayer a coupla yrs ago) has now
evolved into a "children's crusade" with a 17-year-old singer with the pipes
(if not the control - YET) of a young Grace Slick. Or the fact that my daughter
moved in with me in May, and since then I've gotten to hear lots of Seven Year
Bitch, Fiona Apple, and Joan Osborne (whose debut "Relish," Geoff Ginsberg and
I agree, is prolly the most underrated mainstream rec of the last few years,
sold on the basis of a slacker hit that was totally unrepresentative of the
collection of blues and balladry it was drawn from, almost a GenX Bonnie Raitt
but better than that would imply, with the SEXIEST Captain Beefheart cop of
all time in "Right Hand Man").
"This one's a labour of love," Deniz Tek said recently, and I believe...he's
been talking about it since almost the first time we ever spoke back in '98..
The master tapes from the Passengers' demo session, cut near the end of their
run back in October '79, had been lost for years when Deniz located them on
a '99 trip to Oz and remixed 'em with a little help from Donovan's Brain mastermind
Ron Sanchez. The six songs recorded by the Angie Pepper Band shortly before
Deniz and Angie left Oz for the States in March '81 were mixed by Deniz with
studio wizard Dave Weyer in early 2000. (My only complaint about this package
is that they omitted Angie's cover of Beefheart's "Long Neck Bottles," which
Deniz recalls as a real challenge to play because of Don's unconventional sense
of structure - the Iceman remembers having to count bars to keep from getting
lost, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) Then it still remained to find photos for the booklet
(snazzily done by the multitalented Ashley Thomson, who tells me he also did
the duty for the forthcoming reish of the New Christs' magnum opus "Distemper"
and says he rates Angie up there with Marianne Faithful image-wise, a connection
I wouldn't have made but with which I'd be inclined to agree) and obtain the
support of Ozrock arts patron Brother Justin Walsh. Now it's here.
On the Angie Pepper Band tracks, it's interesting to hear Tek working essentially
as a session guy for his future wife. "Frozen World" sounds like a close relative
of the Visitors' "Living World," while "Miss You Too Much" is an actual Visitors
song - I like this performance better, not only because Angie's a more nuanced
(not to mention sexier) vocalist than Mark Sisto, but also for the unusually
restrained Tek gtr solo at the end. Besides the four Tek originals, there's
a cool cover of "It's Not Easy" from the greatest pre-"Let It Bleed" Stones
album, "Aftermath." Dave Weyer adds some deft Hammond organ work to a coupla
tracks, which blends seamlessly with the original backing.
The Passengers tracks have more of an organic feel than the APB ones. In fairness,
this was a working band, after all, putting all of their original material on
tape after months of developing it onstage in front of audiences, rather than
a purely studio project. Guitarist Jeff Sullivan writes more to Angie's strengths
than the Iceman - soaring melodies and poppy hooks are the order of the day.
For my money, best tunes here are the title track and the closing "Sad Day,"
but it's hard to resist the drama of "Only One Way Out," "Face With No Name,"
and "Love Execution," not to mention the pure fun of "Back To the Dance" and
"Girlfriend's Boyfriend" (which daughter Hana Tek has lately been singing with
Montana band the Shrimpers).
The material's late-'70s provenance begs comparisons with chick-fronted bands
like Blondie or the Pretenders. To this listener, Blondie was the early '60s
girl group aesthetic minus the warmth, which Angie has in spades. There's some
of the throb and ache of Chrissie Hynde in Angie's voice, minus the penchant
for irony (and odd time signatures). The band's sterling - drummer Gerry Jones
is a powerhouse, Visitors bassplayer Steve Harris (the common element, besides
Angie, between the Passengers and APB) is a monster on keyboards, and the most
valuable player has to be Jim Dickson, a bassplayer both aggressive AND musical
(as borne out by his later work with the New Christs, Deniz Tek Group, and Louis
Tillett). The remix is ace, too; you'll thrill to the clarity of sound, especially
considering the humble (demo) origins of the source tape.
A worthy reish and a reminder of what made post-Birdman Oz rock so great. Last
I heard, Angie had half a dozen new tracks in the can and was working on some
more to fill out a full-length. Reckon those'll be good to hear as well.. -
Ken Shimamoto