Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Boom: parts 2 + 3



(inset from the cover of the first Boom album, Movin' Out)




'Sacrifice' from Any Day of the Night (1999)



untitled sixth track from The Death of A Star (unreleased, third album)


As a big fan of Movin' Out, a jazz-flavoured but still very rock-y album, it's a little strange to hear these two later, instrumental albums which sound, if anything, more jazz than rock. Except that there's also dub and ska (Chris Farrall of the Sorts and Hoover plays percussion on Any Day of the Night) and definite funky overtones - the review on Insound for the same album says "one might mistakenly address The Boom as a funk revivalist band. Not so. Though the brass section shows reverence to the seventies, their swerving and strutting are more Miles Davis than P-Funk, more blue than red".

The unreleased follow-up, on which Joseph P. McRedmond of the Crownhate Ruin and Hoover plays guitar, seems to steer even deeper into jazz territory, like it actually could be a Miles Davis album. Obviously the switch to the instrumental style on both albums allows Fred Erskine more time to concentrate on playing on trumpet, alongside Carlo Cennamo on all three albums with his alto sax. Other line-up changes, for this third album include the substitution of Lincoln drummer Justin Wierbonski for J. Carrier, and John Wall, previously of Kerosene 454 and co-owner of the Slowdime label, for bass player Booker T. Sessoms III.

It's that last change that seems to me to make a marked difference between the second and third albums. Whereas Movin' Out and Any Day of the Night have that excellent and stylish jangly, funky jazz bass sound, the third album shifts more to the softer dub and ska wnah-wnah (like 'wah-wah', but with more 'n') of the Sorts and Sea Tiger. The lengthy track I posted from the third LP for streaming above (apologies to people with sub-optimal internet connections) focuses on the guitars and sax in a remarkable jazz fusion opus. At half the length, the six-minute 'Sacrifice' from Any Day of the Night runs like an earlier version, with its dubby electronics and frantic horn phrasing.

Although both these albums are great, in my opinion at least The Death of a Star is probably the more accomplished jazz record, so it's a pity that it was never released, due to John Wall's departure for better things from the band and label. However, thanks to Joe McRedmond, we have at least the untitled tracks:


The Boom - The Death of A Star


and for comparison (this is a reader's link):

The Boom - Any Day of the Night


Buy:

Insound - Any Day of the Night LP/CD, Movin' Out CD


7 comments:

Unknown said...

hey there awesome post i loved hoover and have been trying to track down the boom and the sorts albums forever just wondering if you have any info on this 3rd lp by the boom such as date track names if so i d greatly appreciate it if you could pass that on thanks ....dana

also if you want any june of 44 let me know i have a bunch ....

gabbagabbahey said...

no sorry, that's all the information I have. as it was never released obviously there's no release date (though maybe there was a slated one), but maybe I could find out which year exactly it was recorded... after the band's European tour, anyway.

as for track names, Joe McRedmond doesn't remember at the moment, perhaps he or someone else in the Boom will sometime, or find a list... personally I kinda like the mystery of unnamed tracks.

and I have plenty of Jo44 albums, thanks.

Allsnop said...

Great post as usual. I've been digging this 3rd Boom lp ever since Joe upped it. It's kind of nice not having the track names or artwork or a time frame, it presents us with nothing but the music, which is a nice feeling.

Dana: Do you have any June of 44 besides their studio albums? I have all their studio albums plus the Lion EP (which doesn't feature any Jo44 songs) which was handed out at one of their tours, but if you have something I don't or vice versa, let me know.

Unknown said...

no i only have their studio discog but i ve never heard of this lion ep ....

analog nostalgia said...

Thank you (and joe) for the unreleased Boom!

Shino said...

hey,I have a question...Josh Larue played keyboard in The Boom 3rd album,too???Let me know please.

gabbagabbahey said...

as far as I know he did, yes.