LaRM day 38 (Bettie Serveert-Bevis Frond)

So, Bettie Serveert's second album, Lamprey (1995) has stood up much better than I expected. If anything it's actually better than Palomine in terms of the songwriting, these are really good songs. The difference between the two albums I guess is that the scrappiness and the rough edges have been smoothed off. Lamprey is a much more assured and confidently produced and performed record. The result inevitably is that it doesn't have the same impact as Palomine and takes a bit more concentration to get into, but I was surprised to find that it's still a really fine record. Then we have 1997's Dust Bunnies. I think I had only listened to this maybe twice before today despite having owned it for years. I should have given it a better airing, it's really good. It further smoothes out and mellows the rawness of Palomine and has a couple of gentle acoustic numbers but the songwriting is better still. It requires even more attention than Lamprey to take in properly, which is probably why I didn't rate it before, I didn't give it the attention it deserves. It does make me wonder whether the later albums are any good too.

Psychedelic freak-out! It's Walthamstow's very own Bevis Frond, starting with third album Triptych (1988). As with all of the Bevis Frond's albums this is a messy splattering of overblown freak-out jams and really lovely folky songs. The freak-outs tend to get a bit tiresome for me (and the 20 minute 'Tangerine Infringement Beak' certainly outstays its welcome), but it always happens that just as I get to the point where I'm thinking enough is enough, an absolutely gorgeous pop tune will appear. On Triptych the real highlights are 'Lights Are Changing' for the nice song and 'Gemini Machine' for the freak-out ('Gemini Machine' sounds surprisingly similar to a specific My Bloody Valentine song - see if you can hear which one). New River Head (1991) I think is probably the best Bevis Frond album because although it still has the same mix of murky psych workouts and glittering little lovely songs, he reached his peak in both areas on this album. Most of the first side is the usual muddy psych jams disguised as songs, but with the charming little Fairport influenced 'Waving', the album really starts to reveal itself as a great piece of homemade musical experimentation.

One more bit of Bevis on Monday. See ya.