It is great news that the first three R.O.C albums are finally back in print. It has been many years since the listening public received the unexpected assault on the senses that was the first, self-titled album. That juxtaposition of Karen Sheridan‘s angelic, dreamy vocals with Fred Browning‘s more bitter, vitriolic vocal attack, all couched in a series of dramatically diverse musical backdrops that all three band members produced seemingly with such ease.
Somehow, the album held together over one hour and fifteen tracks from the drifting, ethereal spoken word of “God Wiling” to “Excised”, Fred’s splenetic account of a wedding delivered over a heavy groove. The feather light krautrock and hypnotic synths of “Balloon” sit happily together with the acoustic guitar lament of “Plastic Jesus”, and all through the album fresh, surprising samples appear and disappear with snippets of vocals and abstract sounds.
They turned gender politics on its head with the heady groove of Karen’s “Hey You Chick” and set new standards for bile-spewing invective with Fred’s “Asencion” that blasts into a heavy guitar dragout just when you are least expecting it. I don’t think I’d had my head turned around in such a way by an album for years and R.O.C is still way up there in the list of classics.
The rabid descent in to the jungle of the Idi Amin-sampling “Dada” kicks the album off with a sweat-inducing energy that is cooled down by single “(Dis)Count Us In”. It is well dancey; a slow groove with a summer guitar that transforms as the track continues. There is tragedy here on Karen’s heartbroken mountain, while “Cheryl” is a distant cousin to ‘Hey You Chick”.
There is still a lot of heartbreak and frustration, but it is tempered a little more here. The dreamy “Ever Since Yesterday” is sandwiched between Fred’s hardboiled “Dead Pool”, with vibes backing and his heartbreaking “25 Reasons To Leave Me”, which has the most delightful Hawaiian guitar line. Hysterical vocal loops abound on “I Said What I Said”, and the album closes out with Karen’s beautifully observed thoughts of love on “Ocean & England” that competes with The Carpenters for lachrymose loveliness.Then it all went a bit quiet. There was the odd single here and there, but we would have to wait nine years for Night Fold Around Me and by then life had caught up with the trio, and although the album contained ten lovely tracks, that boundless invention had been tempered just a little. They were still able to change the tone of the album from one track to the next with ease, but perhaps they were more confident with the quality of the songs to allow them to stand relatively unadorned.
The mid-album epic “Sink A Bite Into Life” is a hypnotic and repetitive early morning dancefloor soother, while the snappy beat and country guitar of Tom Robinson favourite “Princess” hides more harsh observations. Elsewhere, gauzey keyboards and jarring guitar merge with random percussive noises on “Vespers”, and the album closes with Karen’s final plea for honesty, “Just One Thing”, a ghostly orchestral ballad.
They are all essential albums, really. There isn’t much more that can be said. R.O.C operate in a cocoon of their own making and the magic that flows from the interactions of the trio, with producer Danton Supple‘s subtle assistance and the input of other friends, is always welcome and always surprising.It would be another twelve years or so until Bile And Celestial Beauty, but each album is and was worth the wait. I am hoping I won’t be retired by the next album, but for now, immerse yourself in these gems and allow your world to expand.
~
Mr Olivetti followed up his review by asking Fred, Karen and Patrick Nicholson about the before, during and after of their first three albums:
When producing the first album, did you ever consider the pretty wide-ranging impact that its mix of genres and moods would have?
FRED: I’m looking at my CDs under B, randomly: Baccara, Bacharach, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, Beatles, Beenie Man, Biggie, Bowie, Buckleys, Buju, Burzum! You get the picture! What does surprise me is why everyone else isn’t doing what we do/ne!KAREN: We were not enamoured by Britpop at the time, so just did our own thing based on our own influences. It was diverse, but had common thread.
DANTON: I think you rarely see the effect of a project while working on it. These things are only ever retrospective observations.
PATRICK: I assumed everybody would do it! We coincided with affordable sampling, so you could literally use any sound in your music. With those possibilities, the idea that anyone would want to restrict things (let alone go Britpop tradrock) astonished me. While mixing the album, I met Nick Tauber (producer of Thin Lizzy etc) in the studio and said we liked Sign O’ The Times and The White Album, and their infinite palettes. He said, “Ah but you’ve got to be The Beatles first”. I think he meant you had to start out doing something identifiable and simple, and that may have been commercial wisdom, but what’s the point in that? And by the way, Virgin signed us!
Why was it truncated for the Metal Postcard release and do you plan to release it in an unexpurgated vinyl version?
KAREN: A chance to rework a piece of art is always an option if given the chance. Happy, if given the chance in the future, to release it “as is”, but it is not on the cards at the moment.FRED: I believe due to vinyl constraints it would have had to be a double album, warts and all! Those tight gits at Metal Postcard wouldn’t stump up the moolah!
PATRICK: It had to be cut down for a single LP, and I have a sideline in journalism, so found the job of editing it down satisfying. I think it’s a fresh LP. But a double album of the whole thing would be wonderful, see what happens… I’m eternally grateful to Sean at Metal Postcard for acquiring the album and pressing it for the first time. He’s a great label man: a music fan first, he’s found some amazing artists: Ollo, Swoop Swoop, Dsico etc.
When looking back are you content with a series of albums that seem to stand outside the cultural sounds of their times?
KAREN: Yes, it shows who we are. We were “brave” enough to be ourselves based on our influences. There is nothing worse than looking around to see what is happening or “HOT’ and then trying to copy it or fit in to it. That can be a disaster when you are a copyist rather than exploring your own voice.PATRICK: I think we were and are making the sounds of the times. One NME writer compared us to Britpop, saying that was fantasy Albion while we were about real life. We’re always listening to what’s going on, you can’t help absorbing things, but there’s no point in copying it.
DANTON: Current sonic zeitgeists are rarely considered when making ROC tracks.
FRED: Fashions fade, style’s eternal. And that’s knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.
Does the previous album act as a guideline to the following one or do they stand alone as a unique situation?
FRED: They stand alone, sui generis, but represent where we were in a particular moment. I don’t think anyone could say that was R.O.C’s Shakedown Street album (Deadheads know what I mean!).KAREN: Personally, I’m not looking back to our earlier albums. I am writing based on what is happening at the time I’m writing or the places, people, or experiences I am having.
PATRICK: Hmm, I think that’s for the listener! I never think “what did we do last time” or anything. But I like the idea that they might have some continuity. Always respected AC/DC saying each album was another slice of the same meatloaf!
Did anybody ever approach you for soundtrack work? You would have been ideal.
PATRICK: We met Tim Pope re Last King Of Scotland’ when it was his project, we had this bagpipe tune. Still to be released one day… I’ve done TV work (very proud of my CBeebies Christmas jingle!). Our door is open. We’re steeped in film music. But “great soundtracks” are now just mixtapes thanks to Tarantino, and TV music is under the horrible music library hegemony — that endless fake orchestra behind David Attenborough and the bottomless American Beauty knockoffs. Death by marimba.DANTON: The conversations about the moods of songs tend to be very visual descriptions, so that gives a soundtrack quality to productions.
FRED: Last King Of Scotland, definitely, maybe, never! Yes, we should. We should remix other people you’d think. For some reasons never seemed to happen.
KAREN: It was something we were/are interested in and have done music with that in mind.
Considering how rich the visual imagery is in some of the tracks, did any of you think about branching out into other forms of creative expression?
FRED: I used to work in advertising, but found having to specialise in a particular vein, be it artwork, copy, creative, account handling, print room etc, restrictive. I wanted to conduct the whole fucking rochestra (sick!) and we could do this in house with little star and R.O.C! Bliss! And when we got The Office (London studio) — wow!We made all the film work on Bile, so think that’s sufficient, but like soundtracks/remixing it might have paid some bills. Counter to that it keeps us sterile; purity in an age of filth, that’s potent!
KAREN: We do. I am drawn to art/painting.
PATRICK: On the new album each track has a video which we’ve made with an amazing editor, Oleg Rooz. We’re playing live with the videos.
But I grew up pre-video, when listening was genuinely “immersive” (to use a modern cliché). I lay on the sofa with Sakamoto playing, and watched the pictures.
Are there any plans to compile the Little Star recordings? And are there any still lying around under the proverbial bed!!
FRED: It would be fine to have a complete archive, including that juvenilia, for the foundation of course! That’s what obsessed fans are supposed to do!KAREN: …we have lots of recordings.
PATRICK: Watch this space
Do you own the rights to your recordings now and if so, was that a straightforward procedure?
KAREN: Yes, we own most of our music.FRED: We do own most of our recordings. That in itself is an achievement of sorts, though when I open that last tin of beans at the end of the week, I wonder if…
PATRICK: As I said above, Sean at Metal Postcard bought the first album from Setanta and then sold the rights to us. We own everything except Virgin, but they are being quite co-operative. We’d really like to get the Virgin single remixes out again, in particular “(Dis)Count Us In”.
Do your children express any interest in the recordings or is it just another job to them?
FRED: My children are the records. Some I’m very proud of, some I’m pleased with. And some we never talk about!KAREN: I have no nippers.
DANTON: My children have found R.O.C both bewildering and enchanting from the start.
PATRICK: Some children in my life (none of them young) weren’t very supportive and certainly didn’t think it was a job! Actually, I’ve never thought music was a job. If it feels like one, stop now for your sake and ours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtsvwyDECDA
Are there any up and coming or current bands that are lighting your musical fires or with whom you feel any sort of affinity?
FRED: As I’m doing this I’m listening to Sturgill Simpson and liking much. From Nashville into outer space. Last Spotify dl- Taylor Swift “Lover”. Last two CDs (yes, still): Nurse With Wound, Shipwreck Radio Final Broadcasts; Frank Sinatra, Watertown.PATRICK: I like lots of modern pop, Billie Eilish / Miley Cyrus, obviously, but also Rae Morris, Fickle Friends. Sabrina Kennedy is a great upcoming US singer. Black Midi were worth seeing. I’m late to Songhoy Blues – pretty amazing.
I’m one of those people who is always intrigued by how the less prolific bands, like The Blue Nile besides yourselves for example, survive financially. Is there always a concurrent employment.
FRED: Gotta pay bills man! We didn’t work when we were on Virgin and I’m still paying it back!
KAREN: Finance.
[pullshow id="alive"]PATRICK: You have to keep alive, to keep doing music. I do various crimes, and also play music with other people (Mark Eitzel, Alabama 3).
In this currently polarised political landscape, where does ROC stand or do you prefer an apolitical stance?
FRED: I’d like to see the entire political elite destroyed. The neoliberal ruling class is well past it’s sell by date. The rich/poor disparity is obscene. I’m a pay check away from living on the street. Literally! This is everywhere: Beirut, Santiago, Barcelona, Hong Kong. It’s broken, I think Bernie Sanders makes sense, but Fox News effectively demonises him. The barriers are not economic, but political decisions. And they will fight to keep it that way. You have been warned, end times are comingKAREN: I vote for LOVE. The world needs it like crazy. Too many old school dinosaurs, coal-eating, smoke-blowing, out of time leaders in our midst.
DANTON: Our political views are broad, polarised and often contradictory within ourselves, so the political mosh pit that governs so much of R.O.C conversation is one of the reasons I love the band.
PATRICK: With all my heart I hate the people who are trying to divide us. Truly, what motivates rich narcissists like Farage / Johnson / Trump / Bannon / Banks/ Erdogan / Putin etc? It’s not the will to improve anyone else’s life, it’s the need to make the world in their image. Decadence incarnate. This is a joined-up world, that’s the only way we survive. Imagine there’s no countries.*
-Mr Olivetti-
