Peter Blegvad

Peter Blegvad was once described to me as "folk music for people that hate folk music." I'm not sure about that - Blegvad doesn't really seem like folk music to me although there is often acoustic guitar - but the description was enough to get me to listen a first time. What I found was a very clever, very witty, very talented songwriter who deserves a much bigger audience and a lot more renown.

Blegvad, a tall lanky American of Dutch descent who's lived in England most of his life, has been around musically since the 1971 when he joined up with his friend Anthony Moore in Germany to form Slapp Happy . Moore had already recorded and released two experimental albums for Polydor and the label was looking for a pop album they could market. Blegvad with Moore and Moore's then-girlfriend Dagmar Krause proceeded to record Sort Of (1972) at Faust's Wumme studio with Faust as their backing band.

Slapp Happy were/are an oddity - their music is smart, light and sort of goofy with hints of pop, cabaret, European folk and chanson woven throughout. They released three singularly unique and charming albums in the early 1970s - the aforementioned Sort Of, Casablanca Moon (1974) and Desperate Straights (1975). The second was again recorded with Faust and the third album a collaboration with British art-rockers Henry Cow. Casablanca Moon has an interesting history - the Faust-backed version wasn't released for 8 years due to the label's insistence that the band re-record the album. The re-recorded version was released as Slapp Happy and a later CD release restores the original title and adds Desperate Straights. The original version with Faust is available as Acnalbasac Noom and has some additional singles appended. Both are worth owning although I prefer the Faust version personally.

Slapp Happy's final release of the 1970's was a second collaboration with Henry Cow entitled In Praise Of Learning. A darker more political recording than Straights, the aftermath of the recording was the exit of Blegvad and Moore from the musical collective (Krause continued to record with Cow and its subsequent incarnation The Art Bears). Blegvad has said he left because he couldn't play the complicated music of Henry Cow - other sources say he was asked to leave because his political ideals didn't align with the very Marxist Cow.

In 1977 Blegvad collaborated with Cow's bassist John Greaves and vocalist Lisa Herman on one of the great progressive rock albums ever recorded, Kew. Rhone. A virtual labyrinth of linguistic and musical puzzles, the pieces create a song cycle drawn at least in part from the C.W. Peale painting "Exhuming the First American Mastodon, or The Mammoth" (1806-1808). Joining the trio are Carla Bley on piano, Michael Mantler on trumpet, and the great Andre Cyrille on drums, the sum of which is a taut, muscular band. Herman has a lovely clear voice and makes Blegvad's punny/clever/downright strange lyrics sit comfortably in Greaves art-rock/art-song music. The title track is a mysterious and haunting collections of anagrams (from Kew Rhone) and palindromes (from "Peel's foe, not a set animal, laminates a tone of sleep.") which, when described, sounds like a recipe for musical disaster but it works impossibly well. Other standout songs include "Twenty-Two Proverbs", which is exactly what the title indicates (i.e. 22 proverbs from various nations set to music); "Three Tenses Onanism", a cryptic ode to masturbation; and "Gegenstand", which closes the album.

The 1997 CD from Voiceprint includes a ton of great visuals in the form of a (surprise) cryptic CDRom section that provides the ultimate compliment to the music. Most of the collaborators and musicians contribute thoughts about and memories of the sessions. Probably one of the best designed enhanced CDs ever created, this is an absolutely essential presentation of an essential recording. One of those rare musical experiences that is not only a pleasure to hear again and again, but it reveals something new every single listen. If Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass were a record, it would be this one. Stunning.

How do you follow something like that? Actually, Blegvad goes low on the radar for a few years. He toured Japan as part of the Art Bears (previously, he had toured as part of Faust in 1973) and was a member of the rotating cast of John Zorn's Locus Solus group. I remember reading somewhere that he worked with Bill Laswell during this time also, but I don't see him appearing on any discs from the period.

In 1983 Blegvad recorded his first proper solo album The Naked Shakespeare. A solid collection of songs, it takes the lyrical play of Slapp Happy and marries it to more traditional pop structures. The roster of musicians is a virtual crystal ball looking into Blegvad's future: Anton Fier on drums, Jakko Jakszyk on guitar, John Greaves on bass and co-composer, and Andy Partridge producing and playing various instruments. The result is entertaining but not his best work. The album also begins a pattern of interesting versionism - certain songs from here on out tend to appear on Blegvad, Greaves and Fier (Golden Palomino) albums in wildly different versions and arrangements.

Knights Like This (1985) followed Shakespeare and mines a very similar musical territory. Greaves is back, as is Jakszyk and Blegvad's brother Kristoffer joins for a good bit of the disc. Drums are handled by the great Guy Evans (Van Der Graaf Generator), and Glen Tilbrook (Squeeze!?!) shows up on a few tracks. Another solid collection of songs, it's more rewarding listen than Shakespeare, especially the end of side two ("The Wooden Pyjamas" and "Marlene") . But his best solo work was yet to come.

In 1986 Blegvad played on and co-wrote the Golden Palominos great Blast of Silence. He followed that up by finally recording what he and John Greaves called their "follow-up" to Kew. Rhone., the uneven The Smell Of A Friend. Credited as a band effort under the name of The Lodge it's unclear exactly sure how it is related to Kew. Rhone. except for the fact that Greaves and Blegvad are involved. Musically, it does seem more like their previous collaboration in the use of more angular, difficult melodies than is evident in either of their solo recordings. Brother Kristoffer handles most of the vocal chores on the album and while it is no where near as strong a set as its predecessor, it is a good album nonetheless. The first appearance of "The Song" is found here - it will later get a recording with Robert Wyatt that polishes it to the diamond of a song it is. All in all, not a crucial Blegvad release but not a total disappointment either.

Over the course of several years in the mid-eighties, Blegvad would motor up to Cold Storage studio (of This Heat fame) in Brixton whenever they had downtime (recording studio time is cheapest in off hours, like the middle of the night, and when there is "downtime", which means there was a last minute cancelation of a booked artist so the staff is sitting around on the clock). The result is Downtime, which eventually appeared in 1988. Given the fragmented recording process, the disc is utterly fantastic. Sixteen excellent songs in a very stripped down musical setting (compared to the two previous solo albums), it's mostly Blegvad with Chris Cutler on drums. Greaves plays bass on most of the tracks; other guests include Tony Maimome (Pere Ubu), brother Kristoffer, and Anthony Moore.

Opening with the haunting "Model Of Kindness" , there are a variety of styles and moods only tied together by Blegvad's plaintive voice and the extraordinary craft of his song writing. "Card to Bernard" is a simple loping acoustic story about a man who travels to Paris ("this place is utter bliss/ it's the home of the French kiss") to find himself working for a crook. "White" is the most footnoted song I'm aware of, 15 in all, detailing the sources for the patchwork lyrics which range from Wittgenstein to Rudolph Arnheim, each containing the word "white". For me, this is Blegvad at his best - actually Blegvad and Greaves as this is one of two songs the pair co-wrote on this release. The remaining 12 songs don't stink either. This is the disc to start with.

[... and happily you can get it for a SONG at Wayside Music, who as of this writing are selling it for $3! Even better you can get a special buy on DOWNTIME and the equally fantastic JUST WOKE UP for $5 !!! Click on "B" and page through the catalog until you get to Blegvad.]

The next year he returned to the studio proper and recorded what many people (but not me) consider his best album, King Strut and Other Stories (1990). Produced by Chris Stamey (of dBs fame) and Andy Partridge, the album features a bunch of his Golden Palomino buddies - Peter Holsapple, Syd Straw, Stamey, B.J. Cole, and Anton Fier - along with Partridge and Kristoffer Blegvad. Absent are Greaves and Cutler, and for me the album is lacking because of this. It's certainly the most polished of Blegvad's discs but it mostly feels like a bunch of guests dropped by to play his songs; it has a loose sound that often boarders on country western - which is decidedly odd. A number of these songs show up again on Contents Under Pressure (2001) in an acoustic setting and that makes more sense to me. All that said, it's still a good album full of top notch song writing - I just don't play it as much as any of his other discs.

Somewhere in here Blegvad published a book of stories called Headcheese and in 1994 he recorded a number of those stories with John Greaves writing backing music. The resulting album Unearthed is probably the closest thing in spirit to Kew.Rhone. either of them have done since that album was released. While it's not the musical/lyrical puzzle Kew.Rhone. is, it is definitely not your standard "audio book". The stories are strange, funny, and more than occasionally disturbing and Greaves' music/soundscores perfectly compliments the texts. I hope it's not another 20 year wait for their next collaboration.

Just Woke Up(1995) is Blegvad again in top form. Mostly a trio recording with Greaves and Cutler back as the rhythm section, the songs are among his strongest and this album is probably his best to date. The opening song is one of my personal favorites, "Special Delivery", which also opens Knights Like This in a very different version. Blegvad's metaphor for the eyes - "pinholes in the meat" - is pure genius and this song encapsulates everything that is great about Blegvad's wordplay and sense of melody. "Daughter" is a wry love song from every dad to his daughter. A strong reworking of "Something Else is Working Harder" from the Golden Palominos album proves the first version wasn't great simply because of Jack Bruce's vocal and Bernie Worrell's organ. And how could you not love a love song called "Stink"? Apparently this is out of print but as noted above Wayside seems to have copies at a great price.

1998 brought a pleasant surprise in a reunion album from Slapp Happy called Ça Va featuring Blegvad, Krause and Moore in top form. The disc, while profiting from the more developed skills of the three musicians, actually sounds like the next disc from the 1970s catalog had they continued as a group. I've heard there is a Japanese live album from the same year but I've not been able to lay hands on a copy. It seems to have been a one off reunion disc as nothing more followed in the coming years.

Blegvad followed up later that year with the release of Hangman's Hill (1998). It's another strong album in the vein of Just Woke Up with Cutler and Greaves holding down as the band. This album has a slightly darker feel to it - more despair and longing than his previous albums - maybe it's just the noose on the cover. Lots of good songs and some terrific songs, like "Bride of Fire" and "The Only Song". All in all, it's a quieter and more contemplative Blegvad here.

From 1992 through 1999 Blegvad turned his formidable drawing skills (he's the son of noted children's book illustrator Erik Blegvad) toward producing one of the strangest and most intriguing comics of all time, Leviathan. Published in the British weekly The Independent on Sunday, it follows the metaphysical adventures of Levi (Leviathan of the title), his stuffed rabbit and his cat as they explore life, family, hell, philosophy, dust bunnies and boredom - to name just a few threads that weave through this extraordinary strip. Matt Groening of Simpsons fame called the strip "one of the greatest, weirdest things I've ever stared at." There is a book with the highlights of the run, appropriately called The Book Of Leviathan and there is an online collection of strips here. The later strips are the prime cuts.

Choice Under Pressure (2001) is the one Blegvad major album I don't own simply because I've never run across it and since it is acoustic reworkings of songs from other albums, I haven't been pursuing it with any vigor. I'll fill this out when I actually hear it.

The most recent Blegvad recording I'm aware of, and admittedly they often sneak out quietly, is his 2003 collaboration with Andy Partridge called Orpheus: The Lowdown. Recorded between 1990-2003, it's a spoken-word disc with musical backing, much like Unearthed. One listen to this disc and it's clear lots of folks are going to be surprised and probably outraged at the content. It's not a pop disc by any definition and while I too was a little surprised I realized that Partridge's solo albums have been decidedly un-XTC (Take Away/The Lure Of Salvage, Through The Hill) and Blegvad has frequently explored (way) off the beaten pop track. The bottom line is that there are a LOT of scathingly bad reviews for this online. Here's the take by someone who loves the album:

Orpheus is a fascinating collection of text and sound revolving around the mythic Orpheus - Orpheus as Artist/Musician and Artist/Musician as Maker. In a modern setting, Orpheus goes to Galveston to get Eurydice and is eventually shot in a drive-by. Oblique and abstract, the words are a tour-de-force of imagery and word play delivered in Blegvad's cool and even voice. The music ranges from abstract soundscores to poppish non-tunes; there's a version of "Omnibus" behind "The Blimp-poet" (the song also has very vivid references to Beefheart, which I'm sure is the first time Orpheus and Captain Beefheart have been paired up). If you find Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot annoying - if you find Rilke pretentious - stay as far from this disc as you can. But if you love words and the power of sound as Sound, this is a disc that will keep revealing itself for many many listens.

I'm not sure what Blegvad is up to these days. He did the cover and provided the lyrics to some songs on John Paul Jones' The Thunderthief a couple of years back but that's about all that's crossed my radar. Apparently he also does something called "eartoons" on a BBC show called "The Verb", but I'm not clear exactly what an "eartoon" is and the website doesn't offer any info.

Last updated: 4 March 2006.