Search - Chris Knox :: Beat

A tour de force from a contemprary unknown master...

Timothy P. Young | Rawlins, WY, USA | 09/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...who still has both ears. And his heart, obviously. This solo effort from Chris Knox of New Zealand's Tall Dwarfs is easily as good as any from his catalog, which means that it's a must buy for those who enjoy innovative music that is still deeply rooted in the folk/rock/pop gardens.
While his song structures remain fairly simple and his instrumentation sparse, Knox has branched out to include a horn section on several tracks (listen carefully for the horn section playing the melody from the Ramone's "Commando" at one point).Musically, it ranges from elegaic,plaintative folk "When I Have Left this Mortal Coil" to frenetic pop "The Hell of It" with some fuzzy guitar work tossed in for good measure, whipped into a musical salad. Lyrically, Knox treats us to some of his best images ever, even if some are vaguely disturbing ('the afterbirth of love').Not for everyone, but a must for those who enjoy challenging music. If you are still waffling after reading this, just imagine what John Lennon might have sounded like if he had spent 5 or 6 years holed up in his kitchen dropping acid alone instead of baking bread for Yoko, recording alone straight to 4-track, creating a musical collage that's hooky enough to slide into your conciousness and spooky enough to engulf your dreams....Chris Knox is THE man."

Afterbirth of love, longing unrequited, honestly sung

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 10/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A stunner, and after I've heard thousands of records few new finds retain the power for me to make this claim. While I've known of Knox for years, his discs on small indie labels remain elusive abroad. More reminiscent of Lennon, perhaps once-removed as in the style of Knox's near-contemporary Robyn Hitchcock, for both of these followers and expanders of both the semi-psychedelic later 60s and the singer-songwriter folk-inspired introspection of Dylan crossed with Richard Thompson, this collection carries more of a hazy vibe than his more clearly-recorded "Songs of You & Me" (also reviewed by me). I lower it from five stars because almost no album is perfect, Amazonians tend to over-praise music they like, and the lack of musical variation at times may lull the listener unintentionally.



This is not an album for background ambiance, or dinner parties, make-out sessions, slow dances, or casual listening. I could not listen often to the harrowing narrative of his father's death, the existentialist longing in a godless world, the litany of love and what we do for it, the experimental nature of track 13 that fades out and then adds after eight minutes three more uncredited songs, the somber lyrics juxtaposed with music that sounds composed on toy instruments: these are serious, well-crafted, and thoughtfully written songs. "Beat" demands attention. The music itself lacks the depth of a studio recording by a full-on band, but do not be fooled by this necessarily DIY approach--which has influenced more famous 90s U.S. alt-rock faves, by the way.



"Beat" flows smoother than "Songs," judged his best work. While it lacks the highs of that album, its consistency makes for a satisfyingly bold encounter with Knox. The stripped-down nature of his music, given his finances, forces you to confront him directly, without a fancy producer or background chorales.



I like all of the artists (save Jimbo) in the following list. But Knox, laboring in relative obscurity even among rock geeks, retains a loyalty to his craft that better-paid musical talents may have expressed less regularly, at least by those surviving and still recording in the mid-90s when Knox made this record.



This is not half-crocked Robert Pollard aping a Brit accent with tossed-off lines; this surpasses Robyn Hitchcock's too-often overly clever and analogically strained verbal riffs; this lacks the diffidence of Richard Thompson's cynical jibes; this adds a warmth and humility I find too often lacking in John Lennon. This rejects the willfully gnomic Dylan or the immaturely ranting Jim Morrison. Yet, it shares from all of these influences a committment that these other singer/songwriters sought to also express to truth, however awkwardly expressed, but recognizably human. Hunt this album down, listen to "Songs" and then this, write your own review, and tell your friends about him."