Those that can remember punk twisting its blunt knife into the fusion of the likes of Weather Report and Ian Carr’s Nucleus might wince at this one, but remember, out of Punk came a jazz rebirth with a whole new wave of musicians from Courtney Pine to Rip, Rig & Panic.

Like early punk albums, this is a raw recording and the keyboard of Tom Crawley suffers at times because of this. To more than compensate, on the plus side is the Albert Aylerish sax domination of Pete Wareham together with the rock group genes of drummer Sebastian Rochford (the one with the Hendrix like afro) and bassist Tom Herbert (he of the Clockwork Orange bowler hat) that makes this CD such a treat.

The album has tribute leanings. For Iggy Pop (‘Iggy’ - full on Funhouse trash), French composer Oliver Messiaien and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (‘Om Konz’), ‘Ludwig Van Ramone’ (?) and the last of the 11 tracks, ‘Nico’ (of the Velvet Underground) but not that any of these are better or worse than the other tracks.

‘Deckchair’ starts like as nice little sit down on ska beach and ends in a trash metal outro. ‘Of You’ is like their version of jazz-funk, but this ain’t no Bob James ‘Theme Fom Taxi’ (great drumming). Whilst ‘High Heel Blues’ is a particularly good Motorhead’n’b trash out from start to finish (where’s Tom gone?).

There are some relatively gentler tunes such as ‘Trial & Error’ and ‘Remember’ which both featuring both Tom and Pete but neither are going to get into any elevator lift music playlist.

There’s only one song with lyrics and that’s ‘Perfect Bitch’. Inevitably delivered in cockney-punk accent as they “tear up all the rules” (with flamenco handclapping!).

It’s that no-rule-free-jazz spirit that sets this CD apart even though it might not be aimed at a jazz audience. It would be a pity if jazz fans did miss out as they reach out from anywhere from Zappa to the likes of math rock and groups such as The Mars Volta, who can take on a more rock avant garde approach. And from the other side of the Disco, Death From Above 1979 has taken rock drum and bass into the Nite Club with LCD Soundsystem. Everything is getting mixed up.

The ‘Last Chance Disco’ UK tour ended at Birmingham Jazz Festival on 2nd July and wish I’d seen them live. Isn’t it great to see a resurgence in musicians that aren’t afraid to get out on the free spirit limb that links the likes of Captain Beefheart, John Coltrane, MC5, Sun Ra and Pere Ubu? If music is the healing force of the universe, beat on the brat with a baseball bat. Peace, unchain my glitter ball.

And how many great albums is that now that came out in May?

Reviewed: Acoustic Ladyland — Last Chance Disco (Babel) Released: 2nd May, 2005

Links:
www.acousticladyland.com
www.babellabel.co.uk
www.f-ire.com
Bath Jazz Festival 26th-30th May : ‘gritty and thrusting’ Alyn Shipton
Jazzwise - May 2005 ‘Recommended’ Tom Barlow
Bob James homepage
Glitter Ball danger
Like Acoustic Ladyland? Can you handle the next big thing on Domino? Test-Icicles, “spazmo hardcore experimentalists”. www.test-icicles.com