01. Sport Mode (2:31)
02. Glasto (3:03)
03. Living With A Tiger (3:59)
04. Gratitude (4:16)
05. Have Another Go (5:23)
06. Death By Platitude (2:54)
07. Not So (3:31)
08. The Mighty Q (4:29)
09. Worry (5:36)
10. You And I (4:27)
Acoustic Ladyland are a London based jazz/punk band consisting of Pete Wareham on vocals, tenor and baritone saxophone, Seb Rochford on drums, Chris Sharkey on Guitar and Ruth Goller on bass guitar.
Tom Herbert of The Invisible played bass on their first three albums. They are part of the F-IRE Collective.
Acoustic Ladyland formed in 2001 and released their first album Camouflage, an acoustic album inspired by Jimi Hendrix songs, in 2004. Their second album, Last Chance Disco, an electric set of self-penned compositions, was released in 2005, and was the Jazzwise album of the year.
Acoustic Ladyland were winners of the BBC Jazz Award for Best Band 2005. Their third album Skinny Grin was released on V2 Records in November 2006.
The Mercury Prize-nominated Polar Bear is led by Seb Rochford, and features fellow Acoustic Ladyland members Pete Wareham and Tom Herbert. Seb Rochford also leads Fulborn Teversham, featuring Pete Wareham and Skinny Grin guest vocalist Alice Grant.
Living With A Tiger, Acoustic Ladyland's fourth album, is the first to feature guitarist Chris Sharkey and bass guitarist Ruth Goller. They join with the founder members, leader and writer Pete Wareham on saxophone and drummer Seb Rochford [who are both also members of Polar Bear], to create one of the most distinctive and powerful quartets on the British music scene. This is loud, raucous, frenetic and inventive music that defies easy categorization, despite labels such as "punk jazz" that have been applied somewhat unimaginatively by some British media.
This album differs from third album Skinny Grin (V2 Records, 2006) in its instrumentation, with Tom Cawley's keyboards now replaced by Sharkey's guitar. It also moves away from Skinny Grin's focus on songs, many of which saw Wareham taking lead vocals, returning exclusively to instrumentals.
Living With A Tiger is a ballad-free zone, but that's not to say that it lacks dynamics. Wareham plays his tenor sax, for the most part, in the upper reaches of its range; the instrument screams, screeches and shrieks, challenging Sharkey's guitar to respond. Sharkey is happy to meet the challenge, particularly with his punchy rhythm playing on tracks like "Have Another Go" and "Glasto." Goller's bass is wonderfully guttural and raw, especially on "Glasto" and "Living with a Tiger," lending a forceful contrast to the higher register playing of Wareham and Sharkey.
21-10-2010, 15:47
Comments 0