East River Pipe - Mel

This album is very special.

Among all Fred Cornog's wonderful albums, this one shines out.

The first time I heard "The club isn't open" was on the John Peel show. I had taped the show and was listening to it in the car. I ended up rewinding and repeating again and again to hear this gem. It is a stunning song, and so short, like a work in progress. Half a song almost. Opening with a gorgeous guitar riff and moving into the song of somebody who has made a magical thing but won't milk it, won't drag it out to a six minute opera. Instead, Fred just delivers a brief dazzling song. One verse, one chorus and that's it.

It is an amazing and brief song, but other songs on here are also transformational. "Take back the days", for example, is just wonderful.

Fred depicts the sad side of life, but there is such beauty that the best songs face loss and bring redemption. There is something unique about Fred Cornog in the way he communicates recovery in almost every song. His voice is a little reminiscant of John Cale, or Lennon, but has a frailty that fits his personal vision.

Another wonderful song, "The way they murdered me" has a lyric that seems to evoke those industrial downturns, but from the human perspective. One of the underlying stories of human damage. It reminds me of an earlier East River Pipe song, "The Firing Room".

The recordings are perfection, too. How he makes this sound in his apartment is beyond me.

Another thing I love is the way he doesn't waste his breath. "The club isn't open" would be twice as long if another band made it. They'd probably repeat all three verses. Instead, at one minute 48, it is a shard of perfection.

So, I love this record. I think that, if you don't like this album, you won't like anything else by Fred. It doesn't get much better than this. But if you love this record, you will love all his work.

I've lent this album to people of all ages and all musical persuasions and it's rare I find someone who doesn't like it. My children like it, my mum likes it, my colleagues at work like it , my friend who loved only ambient techno liked it and my friend's mum likes it. The tunes are simple and there is great pop here too, but it is tender and vulnerable, and worth listening to.

I can't finish without mentioning the last two songs.

"Take back the day" is a long and mysterious song, there is a repetitive phrase that fills out most of the second half of it, with tiny changes to each repeat, yet it is fuelled by a subtle emotional force that gets stronger every time you hear it. Fred's prime instrument is the guitar and he plays these gorgeous phrases over and over again, lulling you, almost hypnotic. This a sad hopeless song though, and one that can bring tears on a bleak day. So it is just as well it is followed by, and the record finishes with, a complete redemption in the song "Life is born today".

This final song is something of a hand in troubled times. After the landscape of human loss it opens a window to a new dawn and reminds you new lives are born every day, that hope is always close by.

I find it hard to properly describe this record. One thing to emphasise is just how beautiful the music is. It's simple. Guitar, some corny drum machines and keyboard parts, a vocal like an unconfident John Lennon... yet the songs are beautifully crafted and these parts come up with new moments of beauty all the time.

I remember years ago I used to visit an independent record store called Parrot Records, and they had a section with all the ERP albums that existed at that time. I saw them repeatedly and thought the covers looked quite lovely. "Even the sun was afraid" and "Goodbye California" looked especially beautiful and I often thought of just experimenting, buy a couple and see what they're like.

Well, I needn't have worried. Fred Cornog, as East River Pipe has made so much sublime music, and Mel is the pinnacle. I challenge you not to love this record.