IVOR CUTLER : An Elpee and Two Epees (2005)

"Ivor Cutler's very earliest work was very hard to find in the decades after it was first issued. This compilation does an exemplary job of restoring it to wide availability, its 28 tracks combining everything from the 1961 LP Who Tore Your Trousers?, the 1959 EP Ivor Cutler of Y'Hup, and the 1961 EP Get Away from the Wall. Cutler's material would become more outrageously surreal on later recordings, perhaps, but these efforts are very much in step with the style for which he's beloved. With almost equal doses of spoken word and warbly singing with harmonium, these pieces take gentle pokes that subtly transform everyday experiences into something nearly surreal. It might be too gentle and subtle for those who like their comedy brash, or for Americans not attuned to his very British brand of humor. Still, it's easy to hear elements that the likes of the Bonzo Dog Band and Monty Python would take to more vivid (and more internationally accessible) extremes. And if it's not often laugh-out-loud funny, or too musically diverse, there's plenty of weird wordplay to generate amusement, such as his ode to a "Muscular Tree" and "Stick Out Your Chest," whose exhortative lyrics are totally undercut by Cutler's knowingly silly tone." - AMG

'Ivor Cutler plays "11 musical instruments including the harmonium, guitar, recorder, bamboo flute and 6 pianos". He has written 38 songs that might be described as a combination of Franz Kafka and the Goons.'

1. Here's A Health For Simon
2. Size Nine And A Half
3. Pickle Your Knees
4. Mary's A Cow
5. Gravity Begins At Home
6. Cowpuncher And A Bird
7. Boo Boo Bird
8. Steady Job
9. Obliging Fairy
10. First Love
11. Who Tore Your Trousers James
12. Are You Alright Jack
13. Red Flower
14. Do You Ever Feel Lonely
15. Warning To The Flies
16. Grass Seed
17. Market Place
18. Tooth Song
19. Egg Meat
20. Muscular Tree
21. Handymen
22. Sh Chi
23. Stick Out Your Chest
24. Turkish Bath Play
25. There's A Turtle In My Soup
26. Gruts For Tea
27. Get Away From The Wall
28. Tureen

jim said...
I thought you might like some Ivor Cutler...
THANKS, JIM!