andrew poppy on zang tuum tumb
following on from the excellent 3 cd set by thomas leer and claudia brucken's twisted pop 'act', comes this gorgeously packaged retrospective of another part of the ztt golden period catalogue. this time however, it's a very different affair. when i first heard that ztt had signed a classical composer to their label back in 86 i was keen to hear the results, hoping for more of the type of swollen strings and sonic epicness that soundtracked abc's classic album, 'the lexicon of love', i was totally flummoxed when i eventually got to hear some of andrew's sonic experiments. this was not music that i had any previous experience of (i had yet to listen to any the much referenced philip glass), there was no easy beat to dance to and no obvious connection with any of the rest of ztts oeuvre.
in other words, andrew poppy was the perfect ztt headfuck - mission accomplished, i suspect.
andrew approaches music in a totally different way to your normal composer, the music is very rhythmic, disjointed, and almost non-melodic. using a mixture of the ztt well publicised fairlight cmi, cutting edge studio toys and disembodied vocals, alongside traditional orchestral instruments. he pushed the limits for an pop/rock record label, though, knowing andrew poppy had involvement with the industrial noises by throbbing gristle, as well as having a proper musical education, i suspect that the ztt knew exactly what they were letting themselves in for when they got the required signature on the contract.
i am not going into full detail here as to what forms andrews groove, as the superb sleeve notes (written by longtime ztt aficionado, ian peel) reveal all, thus providing a full and proper insight to his arrival at sarm east (or was it west?). instead, i will just say that over the 3 cds there are select cuts from all of his releases on ztt, 2 albums and 2 12" singles, as well as an appearance of an unreleased album 'under the son'. while the music is not the usual kind of stuff i would listen to, i will admit that there are days when experimental/minimal/mathematical/neo- classical music sounds perfect when doing household chores, but for the casual listener though the set does include the nearest attempt at being commercial in the guise of the edited and full version of 'the amusement', where a standard pop/rock groove is matched with a very uptempo melodic style. it sounded great in '87 and is positively vibrant in its cd form - a track that could easily be dropped into some of todays cut-n-paste mashups and still send shivers up spines.
despite not being overly keen on a lot of the music here, there are moments of sheer brilliance, the minimal and beautiful 'cadenza for piano and electric piano' is a particular favourite, as well as the sheer excellence of the packaging and attention to detail, makes this a wonderful addition to anyone who experienced the pain and joy of collecting ztt releases in the 80's.
so now whos next for one of these 3 cd boxsets - art of noise, fgth, propaganda ? i seriously can't wait