Collider: Ghost in the Machine

In the absence of a lovely paper booklet with loads of interesting stuff to pore over as you listen to the album, and because we love spilling words out in front of you, we're going to use this here blog to throw some extra commentary on the Collider album. To mix things up we'll start with the closing track, Ghost in the Machine. If you haven't made it that far through the album yet, now is a perfect time to pop it on and listen while you read!


CW, he say: This one grew from R-Man’s bass solo, in fact most of the parts in this one were from his fair hand. Counting enthusiasts will notice that the drums and bass are operating in two different time signatures for the first half of this track, and the guitar has a go on each. I have fond memories of the 2 of us in Regan’s back room practising this and concentrating intensely to make all 3 parts wind together at the right time. We’re idiots.

R-man: This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever been involved in.  When we play this live there is a moment in the intro where the whole song hangs on the edge of feedback before crashing back into drums and riff.  Its what I imagine that moment when you jump off a cliff might feel like: genuinely heart stopping.  

The recording doesn’t quite catch it but the smoothness of the whole track more than makes up for it.  If there is an archetypal Great Men sound this is it for me.  It sounds complicated and angular but actually Ghost is pretty damn whistle-able.

I’d like to claim that the title was inspired by Koestler and his take on Descartes’ Mind/ Body Dualism and the artwork certainly was...however the truth is that I really like the cover for The Police’s Album of the same name. It was suitably retro sci-fi in a Bladerunner sort of way, so we nicked it.

Zappadan: Being Frank

In part 2 of my contribution to this year's Zappadan I thought I'd talk about, and play a few examples of, the times I've tackled Frank's music. Covering FZ is wrought with danger; how does one balance the musicality, the repertoire and the attitude? I've seen bands try and I've seen bands fail (Dweezil's Zappa Plays Zappa being a notable exception). I've tackled a few in my time, 3 of which are below for your listening pleasure. Sadly missing from the archives (frustratingly I know these are both recorded somewhere!) are a live version of My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (stylistically somewhere between the Mothers version and the G3 version), and both electric and acoustic guitar renderings of What's New In Baltimore.

Willie The Pimp by chris-walls

Treacherous Cretins by chris-walls

Crew S**t by chris-walls

Something that always tickled me was that Frank's unique soloing style, of just playing whatever was on his mind, was incredibly honest, direct, personal and idiosyncratic. Or in other words, Frank was being frank. Inspired by this turn of phrase and by Zappa solos such as Watermelon In Easter Hay and Zoot Allures I've played about with a guitar solo vehicle called "Let Me Be Frank" a few times over the years. Here are two that made it to tape:

Let Me Be Frank by chris-walls

Let Me Be The Revolution, Frank by chris-walls

Music is the best!