Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports
| Fictious Sports | ||||
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| Studio album by Nick Mason | ||||
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Publication |
May 1981 |
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| Label (s) | Harvest Records (UK), Electrola (D) | |||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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| occupation |
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Nick Mason |
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Studio (s) |
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Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports is a music album by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason . It was released in May 1981 and was his first solo project. He “risked” a “jazz rock trip” exclusively with song material by jazz and avant-garde musician Carla Bley , who also co-produced the album.
prehistory
Mason met Bley in 1976 during a production by her then-husband, the trumpeter Michael Mantler . Mason was involved in the creation of his album, The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories , as well as guitarist Chris Spedding and Robert Wyatt , even if the drum part was taken over by Jack DeJohnette and the guitar part by Terje Rypdal on the resulting record . However, he had a role in the post-production of the album.
Originally, Mason had planned to record a solo album with very different songs in the United States; but then Bley sent him a tape with some of her ideas. This was very different for him from what she had written before and was supposedly exactly in line with what he liked. So he decided to make an album with just their pieces instead of trying to find pieces from other authors who could go with it. The album was recorded by Mantler (supported by Mason) in October 1979 at the Grog Kill Studios, New York (parallel to the recording of The Wall ). The band, which also included other musicians from the Carla Bley Band , performed live with the program several times. In addition, keyboardist Terry Adams from NRBQ and singer Karen Kraft, who Spedding met in New York, were involved on some tracks . Other musicians from Bly's band were involved in the spoken word. In some cases, the critics assume that it is actually a - albeit "pop-oriented" - Bley album that would only be marketed under the drummer's name for commercial reasons.
The record, which was initially to be called Spot the Player , was mixed in December 1979 and May 1980. The release of the record was delayed for another year. The cover was designed by Hipgnosis & Geoff Halpin , as is mostly the case with Pink Floyd covers .
Tracks from the album
- Can't Get My Motor to Start - 3:39
- I Was Wrong - 4:12
- Siam - 4:48
- Hot River - 5:16
- Boo to You Too - 3:26
- Do Ya - 4:36
- Wervin - 3:58
- I'm a mineralist - 6:16
All the tracks were composed by Carla Bley, who wrote all the lyrics.
music
Can't Get My Motor to Start is the rockiest track on the record. In it, Bley castigated Mason and Mantler's fondness for cars. Mason recalls, looking back, that he and Mantler spent a fair amount of time talking about cars instead of recording or editing the tapes
Siam is a study of how pieces from The King and I should be developed in a New Wave context.
Hot River portrays Pink Floyd and alludes to numerous musical stereotypes the band had developed since the late 1960s. The guitar playing is reminiscent of David Gilmour and the vocal part is inspired by Dark Side of the Moon (where it doesn't sound like it was recorded underwater).
Bly's Boo to You Too was inspired by the legendary boos at the Berlin Jazz Days , to whom she dedicated the piece. One month after the album was recorded, she performed the piece at the Jazz Days in 1979. However, the Berlin audience was no longer as booing as in previous years. When boos were called into the hall by George Gruntz , his staff and members of the press, the concert-goers were quite suspicious.
In I'm a Minera List it's ostensibly a mineralogist who loves only his minerals; but apparently rather a minimalist is meant. The text says: " Eric Satie tows my clunkers, Cage is a dream, and Philip Glass is a mineralist to the extreme." Then follows a passage from his opera Einstein on the Beach (1976), until the band returns to the Song melody Bleys falls back.
reception
The album disappointed die-hard Pink Floyd fans because of its aesthetics; it was perceived as "too silly" and too strange. Friends of Bly's masterpieces like Escalator over the Hill would also be disappointed, although the album's eccentric humor, “sharp solos” and the fusion of rock, jazz, and structures and rhythms of the avant-garde were emphasized. The album reached number 170 in the American charts.
Remarks
- ↑ a b c review ( Allmusic )
- ↑ Credits (Allmusic)
- ↑ Music Encyclopedia (jfaro.com) ( Memento of April 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c Ficititious Sports (Floydian Slip)
- ↑ a b c WATT albums featuring Nick Mason
- ↑ Mason stated about the album: “Originally, I had arranged to go to America and make an album using all sorts of material, but then Carla sent me a cassette with some of her ideas. It was very different from what she had done before and absolutely in line with what I like. So I thought it would be much better to do that than to struggle desperately to find things that work together. ”According to The Amazing Pudding Reference Guide to Pink Floyd Songs and Records ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: Der Archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Wyatt discography
- ↑ a b c Amazing Pudding Reference Guide ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bert Noglik The anniversary LP (JazzFest Berlin)
- ^ "Eric Satie gets my rocks off, Cage is a dream. Philip Glass is a mineralist to the extreme. "
- ↑ Tentative Review ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Meeting ( Memento from November 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )