|
||||
Dome of Discovery
Review in RECORD COLLECTOR, May 1994
JUDGE SMITH: “Dome Of Discovery”
(Oedipus THEBES 003) (55.40)
Twenty-five years ago, Chris Judge Smith quit Van der Graaf Generator (the band he’d formed in 1967 with Peter Hammill), in order to work on his solo album. Not a moment too soon, it’s finally here, and pretty intriguing it is too.
Smith — who now resembles actor Lionel Jeffries — has turned in just the sort of strangely mannered album you’d expect to hear from an ex-member of one of Britain’s premier progressive/experimental acts. ‘Dome Of Discovery” contains all the interesting musical frills associated with Van der Graaf, although Peter Hammill’s tortured, passion-filled lyrics have been replaced by large helpings of dry wit. When Smith sings ‘I take disasters in my stride, they don’t upset me”, on “What I’ll Do Without You”, you’re immediately struck by the emotional gulf between this and VdGG.
There’s quite clearly a very late-70s quirkiness to much of the set, with drum-machines augmented by cellos, trumpets, choirs and Duane Eddy-styled guitars. No surprise, then, that Chris Judge Smith describes his unlikely musical fusion as ‘punk orchestral’. A curio that may interest Sparks and XTC fans as much as VdGG diehards. (MP)