Invisible Means

Following on from the earlier album, Live, Love, Larf and Loaf, Invisible Means mines a rich, deep and varied seam of musical heritage and individual virtuosity. Each band member contributes several songs to the album thereby guaranteeing an interesting and varied set.

John French's contributions include the excellent "To the Rain", the lively "Evening News", the strangely discordant "Suzanne", and the rocking blues number and title track "Invisible Means". One of several musical jokes on the album is French's "Now that I am Dead", a very funny and scathing commentary on the sudden popularity of the deceased rock musician whose value to his agent and lawyer increases dramatically after death! Another odd track is Richard Thompson's "March of the Cosmetic Surgeons", a weird comic opera type of song that sadly loses some of its appeal after the first few plays. However, Thompson's other offerings on this album are much better and includes the rocking, swinging rework of the traditional Scottish ballad "Loch Lomond". The stark and mesmeric "Begging Bowl" is written very much in the British folk tradition that provides much of Thompson's inspiration. However, Thompson's piece de resistance on Invisible Means is the stunning "Killing Jar", a darkly powerful tale of inherited meanness and spite. The song is superbly crafted and performed to perfection with Richard Thompson's stinging electric guitar ably backed by Fred Frith's pounding bass. "Killing Jar" is one of Thompson's best compositions of recent years and combines his particular brand of lyrical vitriol with brilliant musicianship to produce a memorable piece of work.

Fred Frith's three instrumentals: "Lizard Tail", "Quick Sign", and "Hunting Sunsets" are all highly distinctive and, especially in the case of "Hunting Sunsets", as avant-garde as one would expect from this musician. Henry Kaiser, also very much a musical innovator, contributes a further three instrumentals, all of them with a noticeable Japanese influence, especially the lovely "Near-Sighted Heron". Kaiser's other contribution is the bizarre "Days of Our Lives" which has Richard Thompson's dour vocals backed by the rest of the band speaking lines from a soap opera! Strange, but great fun!

If anything, Invisible Means is even better than Live, Love, Larf and Loaf and it is a great pity that these four musicians have not got together since 1990 to produce more excellent music. Despite being dubbed experimental or avant-garde, I found Invisible Means very accessible and some of the tracks are absolutely brilliant.