Double
A-sided 7” covering songs by Roy Harper and Black Sabbath!
Odd
juxtapositions, you just gotta love 'em! Whether it's a Public
Enemy/Anthrax collaboration, 'Long, Long, Long' following 'Helter
Skelter' on The Beatles' White Album, or even Mel Smith and
Kim Wilde putting out a Christmas single, sometimes putting
incongruous ideas, genres or artists together can yield surprising
results. This new 7” by Jack Ellister is a case in point. On one
side you have a lovingly heartfelt piano-backed reading of Roy
Harper's most famous song. Flip the record over and there's a version
of a Black Sabbath album track ('Supernaut' from Black Sabbath
IV). While the Harper track is suitably sentimental and elegiac,
the Sabbath cut is a space-race inspired heavy-riffing juggernaut,
featuring distorted bass guitar, lead synth lines and clattering
drums played by Jack's brother Tomasz. Somehow in an inexplicable way
the pairing works. For me, being the sentimental type, the Harper
cover edges out as favourite but I'd encourage you to have a listen
and pick your own winner.
Oh
one more thing before I sign off - there's an lovely back-story to
the recordings on this single as told by Jack on the press release
which I feel is worth including here...
"The
grand piano used on 'Cricketer' belonged to my grand father in Torun,
Poland.
In 1990/1991 my father took me and Tomasz to Poland to get it over to Germany. We had to smuggle it out because it was forbidden to transport instruments across the border, as they might be valuable collectible items or state property. We did it in two turns using an old Mercedes 9-seater. On the first trip we took the inner metal works and mechanics out and hid them under lots of other stuff. On the second journey a month later we got the wooden frame, which appeared like a sort of cheap big wardrobe when not inspected properly. Luckily the wooden outer parts fit into the lift in Stuttgart and didn't need to be carried up the stairs to our flat on the 6th floor where we lived in at that time. It was great to have it around and we used it a lot on early recordings.
In 1990/1991 my father took me and Tomasz to Poland to get it over to Germany. We had to smuggle it out because it was forbidden to transport instruments across the border, as they might be valuable collectible items or state property. We did it in two turns using an old Mercedes 9-seater. On the first trip we took the inner metal works and mechanics out and hid them under lots of other stuff. On the second journey a month later we got the wooden frame, which appeared like a sort of cheap big wardrobe when not inspected properly. Luckily the wooden outer parts fit into the lift in Stuttgart and didn't need to be carried up the stairs to our flat on the 6th floor where we lived in at that time. It was great to have it around and we used it a lot on early recordings.
My brother
Tomasz was then made to play classical music on that thing for about
seven years, and he recorded me playing 'Cricketer' in the living
room in Stuttgart (not the same flat) just before it went back to
Poland for good, together with my parents.
'Supernaut'
is one of those Sabbath tracks that doesn't seem to belong to their
obvious classics, but for me it somehow earned itself a special place
in their canon. Tomasz sent me the drums recorded in his cellar
studio/rehearsal space and I added all the rest at home."
Click here for Jack Ellister's website.
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Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.
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