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--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
> And I really should order the Phantom IV....
>
> Ivan
(WARNING, LONG POST AHEAD)
Well, consider this sorta review a stimulus to do so ...
btw, in an appearant attempt to stay away from being associated with
the Fender Likewises, they spell it Phantom Four - but that's an
aside, really.
the story behind the cd is, that they filmed their debut try-out gig
(for fifty people or so) on video, for themselves to watch for
learning purposes. the sound turned out pretty well, and the people
attending the gig and those catching the buzz afterwards kept
demaning for the recordings, and so, they decided to put it on a
proper cd.
it's pressed in a limited quantity, don't know how much exactly but
the booklet says 'a limited quantity for our first fans' - I'd be
highly surprized if they made more then 500 copies.
And then, they are planning to record a 'real' studio album in
oktober, which might make it less interesting for them to ever do a
rerun of this first live cd - in other words, if you ever were a big
phantom Frank fan, who can predict for himself that after he found
out the studio album is freakin' amazing (which I'm sure it will be)
is going to want this first curiosum, and will regret it if it isn't
available anymore - and I know the Treble Spankers are highly sought
after - then do yourself a favor and order it now! (and after reading
tat sentence, please forgive me and bear in mind I 'm not a native
speaker ;-))
So, what can you expect if you order this cd - apart from mediocre,
but surely not bad production values, it actually is a lot better
then what you'd expect of a cd being recorded with a video camera.
(in any case, it's better then most of the bootlegs fans paid
shitloads of money before the internet came around)
you get nice artwork, a few liner notes, and apart from Phantom
Frank, three musicians of local fame, all with plenty chops.
You get eleven Phantom Frank originals (some written together with
other bandmembers), with titles like "dellamorte dellamore", 7-speed
blender", Malabar and Remo Rifles.
Songs obviously remind of the treble spankers. Strangly, if I'd
describe the music i'd use the same words as I'd describe the treble
spankers (the ethnic influences, funky rhythm feel at times, very
dynamic and passionate guitarplaying) but somehow, you can hear the
difference at once. Franks playing, well having seen him live makes
me think he suffered somewhat from the RSI. but nevermind that. I
never saw the spankers play live, so I can now only compare studio
spankers with live phantom, which isn't a fair comparison, but I have
the idea that Franks playing has become more dynamic, more emotional.
more subtle too. which is great and which in my idea sets him apart
especially in the surf genre (to which he obviously doesn't belong in
the first place, btw, from a purist perspective.) I'm avery curious
about the studio album.
There is plenty variation, a tension building, very slow, very
dramatic dellamorte dellamore, a sad ballad "mr. G', turkish funk
pink-a-pade, with a rhythm pattern that really makes you want to get
drunk and dance strangly, to hard fast and fast punk biffing* on
malabar (which, btw, should have been called MALABAR!!!!!, yes, it's
loud fast and mean.) (*biffing means playing the snare on every beat -
not a clue if there is a more common word for it. We call it biffing
after Biff Biggins, nickname for one of the heaviest dutch drummers)
There are the ethnic influences you'd expect from Frank, middle
eastern sounds and indian like things, but you get more - you get
sitar! Frank now has an electric sitar, which he plays on some songs
live (two on this album, "Sitara" and Rampam) and it sounds absolutly
amazing! and, there are also the more straight surf songs, like "remo
rifles" - solid, but less adventurous compositions.
next to eleven originals, there are three covers. Margaya I didn't
care for too much, it's okay, but it has been done better - it seems
they had to squeeze that one out of themselves after there first
audience kept begging for more after they played everything they
knew.
"the pintor" is done very cool - mucho of the dynamic dramatic subtly
in franks playing, and on this one you can also hear the quality of
the rest of the band to the extreme - all very dynamic players, with
great rhythm feel.
and then there is malaguena, which they made their 'piece the
resistance'. - one of the larger questions of life has always
been: "is surf-music jammable?" I'always thought not, but now I hold
the position that you shouldn't be allowed to comment on the
question, I you haven't seen the phantom four play Malaguena. At 7
minutes, it could be all arranged to the smallest detail, but i saw
them play it live, and there is so much communication between
musicians, so much giving pointers going on, that it's almost jazz in
the way it's done. and what a blast it is, from supersoft subtle
interplay between quitars, to provoquative cressendo full chord
double picking, to muliple hit your tank crashes.
despite the lower then desired sound quality, this is an amazing
album. If you can live with the sort of sound you get when miking a
live band from a distance, then it's really worth getting. If not,
you can always wait for the studio album - having heard this one and
having seen 'em live, it is going to be absolutly killer!
WR
PS, I think this is the first cd review i do, and it isn't even in my
own language, so i found it hard to say what i meant at times, hope
you enjoy it nonetheless.
