Bevis Frond
The Bevis Frond has just released North Circular, its 15th LP in a little over a decade. Many forward-thinking musicians and critics will respond to it with an emphatic “So what?”
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In 1985 Saloman used that money to set up a home recording studio and began laying down both songs and dark, crusty guitar freakouts for his own amusement. When he passed around some samples of his home brew in ’86 (under the apt title Miasma), the response was so encouraging that he churned out two more collections, Inner Marshland and Bevis Through the Looking Glass, in 1987.
Saloman’s magical mystery tours began appearing in the U.S. in 1988, which is when they first came to my attention. I’ve long been a sucker for the loopy color-burst delirium of 60s psychedelia, but my initial reaction to the Frond was less than enthusiastic. While an undeniable authenticity seeped like bong vapor through Saloman’s shaggy lo-fi hallucinations, my shelves already sagged under the weight of albums by the Chocolate Watch Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the 13th Floor Elevators. What, I thought, would be the point of adding an exact replica to my collection of the real thing?
For one thing, it doesn’t take a lot of reflection to see that innovation has become an increasingly dubious yardstick of originality. Some of today’s most frequently lauded “innovators”–Stereolab, Olivia Tremor Control, Radiohead–simply recycle and recombine past stylistic breakthroughs. And for every time I’ve seen an in-the-tradition artist like the Bevis Frond scorned as anachronistic, I’ve read reviews praising musicians like Dale Watson or Freakwater specifically for their adherence to traditional forms and performance styles.
