Mick Wills - 1988 - Fern Hill Tracks : 1 Fern Hill (1:18) 2 The Storm (4:26) 3 Put Down (4:18) 4 Jam #3 - Extracted Decibelia (3:19) 5 Waterbird (3:13) 6 Saxifrage (3:20) 7 Sleepless Night (2:50) 8 Lullabye (2:32) 9 Remembrance (3:46) 10 Waltz (2:26) 11 Spacewalk (4:14) 12 Phases of the Moon [1999 Reissue Only][*] (3:06) 13 She Looked Down [1999 Reissue Only][*] (9:42) Review : Guitarist
and songwriter Mick Wills is a close pal of Bevis Frond frontman Nick
Saloman. Wills and Saloman played and recorded together in a band
called the Parthenogenetick Brotherhood of Woronzow. Woronzow is a pet
label project of Saloman's, hence this record's issue in 1988, and its
eventual very limited CD release on Acme in 1995. Much of the disc
falls into the trad folk and blues category with one or two notable
exceptions. The title track is a six-string workout that is almost
reel, in feel and structure; it departs in the turnaround that is more
Anglo than Celtic in style. On "The Storm," one is reminded of Michael
Chapman's tune "The Rainmaker," where the English Channel provides
accompaniment in the form of waves and swells as Wills moves into the
folk-blues, bending and pulling the hell out of his strings, varying
tempos, and allowing the waves to provide a kind of percussive
atmosphere. One listen and it's obvious: the guy's a monster guitar
picker. One of the previously mentioned exceptions is "Jam #3-Extracted
Decebelia," which features Wills burning up a blues jam on an electric
guitar, Cyke Bancroft on alto saxophone, and Graham Cummings on organ.
Saloman participates as a duet partner on the gorgeous tunes
"Saxifrage" and "Waltz." The guitar interplay is as telepathic as
Ronnie Woods and Keith Richards, but tougher, more fluid, and certainly
not as burnt out sluggish as all that. The finest track on the disc is
its closer, "She Looked Down," with vocals by Jenny Brown. It's a
lengthy tune, with Saloman playing lead electric guitar, bass, and
drums. However, it's Wills and Brown who shine here. Wills' folk styles
are so fluid, so silvery and knotty he's like Richard Thompson or
Martin Carthy with his traditional material, but so much faster and so
much darker, using diatonic fourth and eights to punch up the standard
minor key lines of his melody. Brown doesn't enter the tune until
almost three minutes in, after some lengthy interplay by Saloman and
Wills. The lyrics are simply adapted from old world folk songs, like
something out of Steeleye Span or Fairport in their true
neo-traditionalist period. But half way through the track's nine
minutes, there is a break with tradition. Although the melody remains
throughout, the song drifts, hither and yon, transforming itself into a
psychedelic folk/acid jam, ending up in some other place and time, far
from the territory it began in. It's too bad this set isn't readily
available, as fans of Bevis Frond would get a kick out of it, and Wills
varies it so much there is something for almost everyone here.
Hopefully the cat will get around one day to cutting another record;
he's got the stuff. ~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Main
Registration
Login
