een. To my ears it felt and sounded a lot
like early King Crimson; simultaneously experimental,
progressive, but with a hint of mainstream commerciality (that's not to say
any of these songs would have come with miles of top-40 radio). Sinfield's
strained and clipped vocals underscored why he'd been more comfortable
turning over vocals to other parties, though you had to give him credit for
daring to take the spotlight. His voice certainly wasn't the
worst thing you've ever heard, but some folks are going to find him cloying. The same comments could be made about
his lyrics. Obviously you weren't buying a Sinfield album to hear
moon-in-June lyrics, but this was the kind of over-the-top pompous stuff that drove punk bands
crazy. Still, Sinfield had a sly sense of humor
(check out his environmental statement 'Wholefood Boogie' or some of the
wordplay on 'The Night People') and if you could
get over the pretense factor embedded in titles like 'The Song
of the Sea Goat'
and 'Envelopes of Yesterday' some of his lyrics were interesting in the way
a crossword puzzle captures your attention. Anyhow, if you liked the
first couple of King Crimson releases and had a thing for heavily
orchestrated progressive stuff in the Genesis/Gentle Giant vein, then this
was probably going to scratch your itch. If you hated that kind of
stuff, then you'll want to stay clear. Elsewhere, the extensive
list of supporting musicians served to underscore Sinfield's
reputation within British music circles.
Pete Sinfield
Band members Related acts
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- Pete Sinfield -- vocals, guitar, synthesizers
supporting musicians: - Greg Bowen -- trumpet - Boz Burrell -- bass - Richard Brunton -- guitar - Brian Cole -- pedal steel guitar - Mel Collins -- sax, flute - Steve Dolan --- bass - Brian Flowers -- tea, sympathy, equipment - Tim HInkley -- keyboards - Don Honeywell -- sax - Phil Jump -- keyboards - Greg Lake -- guitar, backing vocals - Min (Alan Mennie) -- drums - Chris Pyne -- trombone - Stan Roderick -- trumpet - Keith Tippet -- keyboards - Snuffy Walden -- lead guitar - Ian Wallace -- drums - John Wetton -- bass
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Genre: progressive Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Still Company: Manticore Catalog: C
66667 Country/State: Putney, UK Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: gatefold sleeve Available: SOLD Catalog ID: SOLD 6101 Price: SOLD $40.00
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Hum, letting someone best known as a lyricist record a solo album ... Hard to imagine something like that happening today! Admittedly, Pete Sinfield had quite a resume to his name. He was one of the original members of King Crimson, responsible for the lyrics on the band's first four albums. He also worked with McDonald and Giles and produced the first Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music album. Easy to see why a label might sign him to a solo deal.
Sinfield's work
with Emerson, Lake and Palmer led to a 1972 contract with their Manticore
imprint (distributed by Atlantic) and the release of "Still".
Produced by Sinfield with Mel Collins and Greg Lake listed as associate
producers, the album wasn't nearly as bad as it could have b
"Still" track listing: 1.) The Song of the Sea Goat (Phil Jump - Pete Sinfield - Vivaldi) - 6:08 rating: ** stars 'The Song of the Sea Goat' found Sinfield pulling out all the stops (including appropriating a melody from Vivaldi - 'D Major Lute Concerto') in an effort to underscore his relevance as a serious musician. I dare anyone to read the lyrics without breaking out into a smile ("The sea goat casts Aquarian runes through heads of mirrored tears ..."). Okay, I'll admit the song was actually pretty and relaxing in an early Sunday morning kind of fashion. 2.) Under the Sky (Ian McDonald - Pete Sinfield) - 4:24 rating: ** stars 'Under the Sky' had a relaxing, dreamy feel though it was a but short in the melody department - imagine half of the Moody Blues showing up for a recording session. 3.) Will It Be You (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Alan Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 2:42 rating: *** stars Hum, Sinfield does Fairport Convention ? Sound strange? It was. That said, the country-tinged 'Will It Be You' was actually one of the album's most mainstream and enjoyable performances. Nice melody with Brian Cole contributing some tasteful pedal steel guitar. Even Sinfield's normally strained voice sounded decent on this one. 4.) Wholefood Boogie (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Alan Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 3:40 rating: *** stars In addition to sporting some of the funniest environmentalist oriented lyrics you've ever heard (and remember this album came out in 1973), 'Wholefood Boogie' was the closest the album came to rocking out. With a propulsive boogie structure, you had to laugh when the gang screamed out 'fish and chips'. 5.) Still (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Alan Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 4:45 rating: *** stars The title track started out with Sinfield reciting some dreadful, navel gazing and over-the-top lyrics before Greg Lake took over the lead vocals and somehow managed to drag this progressive behemoth to the shoreline where it finally crashed and burned.
(side
2) Simply based on the lyric 'I need to suck the breasts of time and freeze her milk in ink .." 'Envelopes of Yesterday' gets my nod for pretense overload. I will admit Snuffy Walden's lead guitar was pretty cool. 2.) The Piper (Pete Sinfield) - 2:51 rating: ** stars With Sinfield employing some sort of weird-assed accent, the pastoral 'The Piper' sounded like Sinfield trying to channel the late Syd Barrett via Jethro Tull. Very bizarre, but then maybe that was the point. 3.) A House of Hopes and Dreams (Pete Sinfield) - 3:57 rating: *** stars 'A House of Hopes and Dreams' took awhile to get going, but propelled by some nice martial drumming and a nice horn segment, was one of the more mainstream songs, featuring one of Sinfield's better vocals. 4.) The Night People (Richard Brunton - Mel Collins - Phil Jump - Pete Sinfield) - 7:56 rating: *** stars 'The Night People' was interesting just to hear it mutate from genre-to-genre. The song started out as a typical dreamy ballad with Sinfield nasal vocal sounding quite ominous, before switching gears and moving into a surprisingly funky horn-powered mid-section (echoes of Maceo Parker). The final segment saw the track dissolve into a Mel Collins led, discordant jazz meltdown. I'll give it an extra star for simply being so strange.
Needless to say, the album failed to generate much in the way of sales, leading Sinfield to return to production and songwriting.
For hardcore fans, there's actually an alternate cover ... in the UK some of the covers were pressed with a blue edge. Not a major difference, but enough to make the alternative cover version quite collectable.
In 1993 the album was re-issued by the Japanese JVC Compact Discs label under the title "Stillusion". The reissue included a pair of previously unreleased tracks ('Can Your Forgive a Fool' and 'Hanging Fire') and new liner notes from Sinfield.
"Stillusion" track listing: 1.) Can Your Forgive a Fool (Richard Brunton - Pete Sinfield) - 4:20 2.) The Night People (Richard Brunton - Mel Collins - Phil Jump - Pete Sinfield) - 7:56 3.) Will It Be You (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 2:42 4.) Hanging Fire (Pete Sinfield) - 3:04 5.) A House of Hopes and Dreams (Pete Sinfield) - 3:57 6.) Wholefood Boogie (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 3:40 7.) The Piper (Pete Sinfield) - 2:51 8.) Under the Sky (Ian McDonald - Pete Sinfield) - 4:24 9.) The Song of the Sea Goat (Phil Jump - Pete Sinfield - Vivaldi) - 6:08 10.) Envelopes of Yesterday (Pete Sinfield) - 6:19 11.) Still (Richard Brunton - Steve Dolan - Phil Jump - Menie - Pete Sinfield) - 4:45
For anyone interested, Sinfield has a web presence at: http://www.songsouponsea.com/Promenade/home.html
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