Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » This Heat: This Heat

129

This Heat: This Heat

By

View read count
This Heat: This Heat
With the benefit of hindsight, the arrival of one of the first incarnations of punk rock on the British music scene in the late 1970s was largely beneficial, making waves within a largely complacent music industry. The negative effects, however, might have been detrimental to the likes of This Heat, which was unfortunate. However, given the highly individual nature of their music, their crossover potential was less than zero, as their first album exemplifies.

I have no recollection of whether or not this recently reissued and remastered album attracted a cult following at the time, but hearing it again after almost thirty years is a forceful reminder of just how original This Heat was, insofar as the term "original" is apposite for a band that encompassed—as it does here—the most rarefied art songs and a percussion workout that alludes to the work of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago.

It should be remembered, of course, that the '70s were a decade in which the term "experimental" could be applied to music popular or otherwise in a greater than pejorative sense, and by that token This Heat was decidedly a trio with a penchant for the experimental. This did not, however, automatically lead to the kind of arrhythmic atonality that might be associated with the term; indeed, the snappily titled "24 Track Loop" is mostly made up of the kind of genetically modified funk that the likes of Can so excelled at.

Similarly, the notion of the art song need not necessarily conjure up ideas of overblown pretentiousness, at least not in this case. Both "Not Waving"—with a lyric based on a Stevie Smith poem, if memory serves—and "The Fall Of Saigon" are songs singular enough to offer a whole new take on the definition. Charles Bullen, Charles Hayward and Gareth Williams each play a number of instruments and sing as well.

For anyone who believes with even the slightest degree of sincerity that some musicians should be out there probing the very meaning of music, this reissue should be compulsory listening. And while it's not of itself proof positive of anything other than the fact that This Heat put together some extraordinarily singular music, it's evidence also of the fact that the commercial prerogative was hardly an end or indeed an objective in itself. How times and circumstances change.

Track Listing

Testcard: Horizontal Hold; Not Waving; Water; Twilight Furniture; 24 Track Loop; Diet Of Worms; Music Like Escaping Gas; Rainforest; The Fall Of Saigon; Testcard.

Personnel

Charles Bullen: guitar, clarinet, viola, voice, tapes, etc; Charles Hayward: percussion, keyboards, voice, tapes, etc; Gareth Williams: keyboards, guitar, bass, voice, tapes, etc.

Album information

Title: This Heat | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: This Is

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.