KEVEN BRENNAN - God Is A Mighty Gourd (f. Boo Music)
Another album from Keven Brennan, and it is so totally different to his last that you would not think it was the same person. This one is much more low key, with a decided blues influence on a lot of the songs, and a vocal style borrowed from Tom Waits on the slower numbers. While still utilising a horn section of sax and clarinets it is used much more in the background on this one, and it does sound all the better for that. Offbeat and sometimes witty lyrics interact with Zappa and Beefheart influenced tunes to make an eclectic mix of songs. The funky grooves on 'Bang Bang Bang' indicate a Funkadelic/Parliament direction, while 'Martian Jellybeans' tones it down a fraction to resemble The Meters. 'The Journey' is an affecting ballad which breaks up the album nicely, but the psychedelic funk soon returns with 'Never Ask If I Treat Her Right' and 'The Machine Is Edible, But Not Digestible'. The final track 'Their Bodies Have Not Yet Washed Ashore' is a story written and narrated by Brennan, with music by the whole band, and it eerily echoes the similar 'The Sky's Ablaze' by Was Not Was. On the whole I would say that this album is preferable to 'Revival Tent', although neither of them are really the sort of thing that I would normally listen to, so it would be hard to recommend them unless you are already a Zappa fan.