Search - Martin Gordon :: The Baboon in the Basement

Outstanding belated solo debut

Michael C. Bennett | Chicago, IL United States | 12/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After his brief tenure in Sparks (with his strong contributions on their breakthrough Kimono My House album), bass player extraordinaire Martin Gordon established himself as a songwriter. Working with former John's Children alums Andy Ellison (vocals) and Chris Towson (drums), Gordon penned sophisticated glam rock (a la his former band and Roxy Music) for the one-album-only Jet and punchy, sarcastic rock `n' roll for Radio Stars. Gordon's lyrics are witty and memorable and he has an innate talent for creating big hooky choruses.
Since Radio Stars's demise, Gordon has devoted most of his energies to working with other artists, only sporadically venturing into his own projects. So this solo disc is long overdue. Thankfully, time has only strengthened Gordon's songwriting chops. There are a few songs that sound like they could have been Radio Stars songs (in some cases, because they were originally penned for Radio Stars; in all cases, because this is the guy who wrote Radio Stars's songs -- duh!), and other songs that would sound as contemporary during the heyday of Jet as they do compared to bands like Pulp or The New Pornographers today.
Gordon's songs generally have spunk aplenty, combined with sharp lyrics that alternate among spheres of keen observation, Menckenesque misanthropy and giddy silliness. What is particularly impressive is that Gordon avoids the trap of many traversing the smart and, dare I say it, clever path, in that he writes lyrics that flow with, rather than constrict, the music. More importantly, he fleshes out his concepts, so songs aren't just a joke repeated for four minutes till fade out.
Gordon and his band (which, in addition to Towson includes guitarist Andy Reimer and vocalist Pelle Almgren) take you to a funhouse world where Germans run Heaven somewhat like the Department of Motor Vehicles, though with more efficiency, a woman is told to hit her lover on the head with a hammer (hey, Captain Beefheart has already noted that "nowadays a woman's gotta hit a man to make him understand."), and Richard Reid's reaction when he's unable to light his shoe bomb is that he's "in a terrible mess."
It's also a world where the cover tunes are uniformly terrific. The versions of T. Rex's *Unicorn* track "Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles" and The Rolling Stones "We Love You" (which has a bit of a trippy psych-dance vibe) are swell, but the version of the latter day Move classic "Tonight" is superb. It's not a case of some daring rearrangement. It's just a case of the musicians nailing the song. In particular, kudos must go out to Almgren. He is a great singer, with a voice that effortlessly handles whatever material Gordon gives him. Almgren reminds me a bit of Sweet's Brian Connolly, another singer who never seemed to strain and had a deceptive power, though they don't sound much alike. "Tonight" is one of many effective showcases for Almgren's talent, as he immediately engages with the material.
Almgren does a great job selling (sort of pun intended) material like "Let's Make Money", which could be used at George W. Bush fundraising stops. The song is a sly put down of materialism, with a nice Bo Diddley variation rhythm, and Gordon's purported first recorded bass solo. Then there's the painfully funny "Green Finger". The protagonist buys his sweetheart a cheap faux gold ring. She's allergic to the fake stuff. Uh oh. This is a rollicking number that is reminiscent of Wreckless Eric at his best, with percolating pub rock leavened by gentle humor.
The title track is a showcase for Reimer. He gets to show off, with an array of licks that make him a suitable substitute for Adrian Belew. And this isn't wanky showing off. The oddball guitar parts weave in well with the tribal percussion. While no other number delves into this musical style, "Baboon" is characteristic of the electricity and energy throughout the disc. Whether it's the musical drama of "She's So Pleasant", which has a sweeping chorus that will please fans of early Duran Duran (admit it, they wrote some good tunes back in the day), the rollicking riff-fueled pop-rock of lead cut "It's Like It's Like...", which has a nifty middle eight in the vein of The Move, or the build up of the complete "Anyway Goodbye" -- it has tension building verses, a sing-a-long chorus, and provides a primer on how to live a short life: "don't check regularly the state of your health/spending money improves your wealth/take your vitamins and don't do sport/keep off yoga and stay overwrought." Slow suicide has never been so fun!
Even though this album is defined by these dynamic tracks, the best song may be the slow and elegant "Only One Dream Per Person". As referenced above, this is Gordon's view of what Heaven would be like if run by Germans, though it is equally applicable to corporate society. The song proceeds at a languid pace with a drawn out melody which provides the proper atmosphere for the condescending lyrics: "Your wish is, of course, is our command/just stand in line/that row is only for Aryans/this is just vegetarians/observe the customs/when doubtful, just follow the sign." This is one of those songs, like Randy Newman's "Sail Away", that takes a premise that could be tacky or tasteless, and through surgically precise lyrics, turns out funny and thoughtful.
This album is a testament to Gordon's talent, both as a songwriter and as a band leader. This is as good as anything he has ever done."

As Good As It Gets

Dirk Gently | MI USA | 08/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sparks, Jet, Radio Stars, Blue Meenies, John's Children...Martin Gordon is a veteran of some of the best UK pop music has offered over the years. Gordon does NOT rest of his heels on this his first solo release. Martin is one of the most intelligent, articulate, and witty writers, producers, and arrangers on the planet today. You will not find "nostalgic cabaret" on this release. This CD covers all the bases and will leave you wishing Martin would release more."

Heaven Awaits In Your CD Tray

Clark Paull | Murder City | 12/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's tempting to try to fashion some sort of cheesy pun out of the name of Martin Gordon's record label, but the guy's been around far too long to be afforded the type of newcomer status for which the words "radiant future" are usually reserved. Fair enough. Gordon played bass on and provided most of the arrangements on Sparks' brilliant "Kimono My House" (1974), one of the albums that relieved some of the suffocating boredom yours truly endured during high school in Detroit as well as one that was universally loathed by everybody I ever played it for. Gordon bid the Mael brothers a not-so-fond "adieu" after discovering the dynamic within the band to be a little less democratic than he was originally led to believe. Being asked to use a Fender bass during live rehearsals instead of his customary Rickenbacker also stuck in his craw. Flaunting said four-string on "Kimono's" back cover probably didn't help smooth things out either. After leaving Sparks, Gordon formed the short-lived glam supergroup Jet, whose only album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Jet later morphed into Radio Stars, a group mistakenly lumped in with the British punk/new wave scene, probably on the basis of their single "Dirty Pictures," which I still have on 7-inch vinyl somewhere. After two years, two albums, and what must have seemed like interminable touring, Gordon split for Paris, where he found gainful employment as house producer with Barclay Records and sat in with the Stones a few times while their bass player (what was his name again?) went out for a fag, uh, cigarette. Since then, Gordon hasn't been sitting around on his ass - he's provided keyboard, programming, producing, co-writing, and arranging services for the likes of Kylie Minogue, George Michael, Boy George, Blur, Primal Scream, and Robert Palmer (among others) - as well as handling the bass chores for John's Children on their yearly retirement gigs. Showoff... "The Baboon In The Basement" is Gordon's first solo album and, quite frankly, may be the best thing I've heard so far this year. Sonically, its very essence is unmistakably Pommy, recalling an era of pre-marketing age innocence (read 1970's). At the risk of starting a chicken/egg argument, it's immediately apparent that Gordon traffics in the same skewed pop smarts and wiseguy wordplay his old employers in Sparks are famous for. Like "Hit Him On The Head (With A Hammer)." Not long after snarling feedback from the guitar of Andy Reimer kicks this one off, you're singing along with the chorus. By then it's too late - you've bought into Gordon's twisted vision. The guitar sound Gordon (yep, he produces too!) coaxes out of Reimer is enough to send you scrambling to locate your old T. Rex albums, the scrunchy power chords which intro album opener "It's Like It's Like" exhibiting instant heroic appeal to those of us old enough to remember when downtuning wasn't all the rage. Although it's Gordon's name on the cover of this disc, apparently he's remembered the lesson he learned when rubbing elbows with the Maels in that he's only too glad to share the glory on "The Baboon In The Basement" and let's face it - there's plenty to go around. Pelle Almgren's vocals are a real treat, sort of a robust mixture of Cheap Trick's Robin Zander and Squeeze's Chris Difford, inviting a sing-along on most every song and never overextending his reach. He even makes a song about ending a relationship ("Anyway Goodbye") sound like a reason for celebration. Gordon's running mate in John's Children, drummer Chris Townson, proves himself more than capable of handling most anything Gordon throws at him in the way of arrangements. Filling in for Keith Moon (who'd injured himself throwing his drums around onstage) on the last four dates of a Who tour in 1967 was apparently not a bad trial by fire.In the end, though, it's Gordon's huge talent as an arranger, writer, producer, bassist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and programmer which provide the slab on which "The Baboon In The Basement" is built. Rumors about him cleaning ashtrays in the studio are thus far unfounded... Other than three covers (the Stones' "We Love You," Marc Bolan's "Warlord Of The Royal Crocodiles," and Roy Wood's "Tonight"), he wrote all of the songs here and at the risk of appearing starstruck, just thinking about the craft that went into combining a wry sense of humor with hooks that stick immediately makes my head spin. "Why Do I" and "Greenfinger" in particular are disturbingly catchy, both sprinkled with a liberal coating of Gordon's production fairy dust. At the end of the day, there's something (hell, a lot!) to be said for a guy like Martin Gordon and his vision of a world filled with spirited campfire songs which mix pop goo with glam swirl (shaken, not stirred), not the least of which may include the word "genius." Live with it"