Reviewed by James Lewis

The name hides a collaboration between Canada's Mr Bennett and our own Dan Donovan. Mr Bennett was my favourite discovery at Greenbelt '94, so I was fairly keen when I received this to review. I say "fairly", 'cos a glance at the inlay revealed a large number of the tracks to be "spoken word". I don't know about you, but "spoken word" tracks don't tend to be my favourites. I have to say however, that these are more listenable than most, partly due to the addition of atmospheric crackle and background noise. Musically, the first song, "Yew", is somewhat of a mess, but thereafter the songs on this mini-LP are mostly acoustic. Mr Bennett and Dan can best described as of the lineage that produced Lou Reed, T Bone Burnett, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, etc. and Mr B in particular has a voice that is so low only members of Crash Test Dummies can hear his full range. The wheezing "Money" is top track to these ears and my request is the same as when I tried to get hold of some Mr Bennett at GB'94 - "How about a CD, please ?"

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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