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CD Review: 'Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk'
Friday, December 22, 2000
Paul McCartney. Mariss Jansons. Bernadette Peters. Placido Domingo. Squonk Opera.
At first glance, the highlights of Angel Records' roster of artists look a little strange. But there's a method to the madness and the miracle that has given Squonk Opera an Angel on its shoulder.
SQUONK OPERA
'Bigsmorgasbord-wunderwerk'
(Angel) 3 1/2 stars
With distribution through a major label, Angel has access to just about any record bin it wants. While it chooses to put discs by Liza Minnelli and Sarah Brightman in "theatrical releases" where they belong, Squonk Opera's "Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk," the re-mastered soundtrack from the group's Broadway show, is being marketed as rock.
Hardcore Squonk fans who snagged a copy of the group's self-released pre-Broadway "Bigsmorgasbord..." soundtrack will notice some changes. Angel puts the most radio-friendly tracks, "Drank Big Drink" and "In the Kitchen of the Mountain King," right out front where DJs can easily find them. Track shuffling can't work with most musical theater releases, but the entertainment industry doesn't think of Squonk as musical theater, as evidenced by the group's disqualification from the Tony Awards.
Angel probably has it right. They think Squonk is the first ethereal rock band to break down the doors of Broadway and is pushing the group with promising success at alternative, jazz, classical, new age and independent public radio stations.
Say "ethereal" and some people think Brian Eno, Michael Hedges or recordings of the sound of water falling. Squonk's definition is more bizarre. Under the direction of classically trained Jackie Dempsey, "ethereal" means trippy dreamscapes and theatrical hallucinations that can begin with the quaintness of a single piano key and grow to colorful explosions of aural fireworks. Dempsey's compositions allow Kevin Kornicki's percussion to sometimes be more musical than rhythmic, and some of the best pieces are duets with Dempsey at the piano and Kornicki on synth pads modulated to sound like piano.
Rasping, wailing and gasping, Steve O'Hearn's electronic winds make protohuman sounds. T. Weldon Anderson plucks and bows his upright bass, seeming at times to spiral off on tangents until the other half of the complex arrangements catch up and reveal well-orchestrated plans.
Although some of the songs have what might loosely be described as lyrics, Jana Losey uses her voice as a very articulate wind instrument, phrasing sounds and words to carry the aural story line.
As revealed on Squonk's previous self-released discs "Ha Ha Tali" and "Howandever," musical humor is an important component of Dempsey's writing. In the discernable language of music, the group sets up a predictable pattern of chord progressions, leaving it to O'Hearn to "squonk" out the discordant punch line.
Drum piano? Wordless lyrics? Electro-wind flatulence? Taken as a whole, "bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk" doesn't sound like anything being done anywhere on the radio. But in smaller, radio-sized samples, heard without the looming pseudo-psychedelic concept, individual songs are kind of fresh and kind of weird and kind of, well, Squonk. That's why they have Angel's blessing.
-- John Hayes
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