Neil Burrell – Shine Of Your Skeleton
The unmistakeable sound of Neil Burrell is brought to life on this adventurous compilation of weird and complex songs. Psychedelic folk can be a complex beast and this album is no exception. It has most of the inventiveness needed to unnerve the listener, whilst slowly leeching on their soul as they inevitably have to play it more and more. If you play this album once and then lock it away somewhere, all will be fine as you will (probably) forget about it. Play it a second time and that is it; you have to keep returning to it to try and catch the illusive odd sounds, missed lyric or strange note that you didn't know were there with just one listening.
The unconventional Burrell fuses guitar and lyrics with sounds and strange atmospheres. Often dark, the songs are very original and his arrangements of them is approaching expert. The opener, 'Nothing' introduces the folky weirdness and gives a very good hint of what's to follow. The eerie echoing vocals really grab the attention. The album drifts on, in and out of tempo, unexpected riffs and strange noises; all held together with psyched out lyrics.
A steel guitar and harmonica make fleeting appearances, even the snorting pig sounds seem to fit in. The blues influenced 'Shine Of Your Skeleton' stands out amongst some of the little gems on the album, though I did find the very odd 'Glowing' hard listening. It all mounts up to a very strange, but enjoyable experience. The style does change from song to song; often dipping towards the more conventional before taking the listener off to somewhere completely different. Often likened to Syd Barrett,I don't think he'll mind me saying that the songs reminded me of the style of the great Captain Beefheart.
For good measure, there is even a cover of Lou Reed's 'Pale Blue Eyes' that closes the album. Nothing like the original, except for the lyrics, the acoustic accompaniment and the subdued and warped Mick Drake style of singing is extraordinary.
The delivery of the album epitomises the length that the artist will go to achieve his warped goals. It's refreshing to see that there are still musicians out there all too willing to push the boundaries.