Member:
Ulrik
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by Ulrik)
Date:
1/7/2008
Format:
CD (Album)
A few years ago I took the train to a city north of Copenhagen called Helsingør with the intension of hearing Taylor's Free Universe live in concert at a venue called Toldkammeret. As things turned out this gig was recorded direct to DAT and released not long after the gig, which took place in March 2003. Helsingør is one of the few cities in Denmark to have its own international name: Elsinore. This made the basis for the clever play on words in the title: On-plugged in Elsinore - a true product information!
The album is pure documentation of what took place. This means no treatments or manipulation whatsoever, though there was a little use of sampled real-sounds handled on location by Kalle Mathiesen.
What made this event so very special was, that it was the first time that legendary bass ace Peter Friis Nielsen was featured as substitute for their then regular bass player. I say "legendary" because he started out in the trio Coronarias Dans with Secret Oyster Kenneth Knudsen and because his electric bass has (or ought to have) its own unique place in the worlds bassscapes - at least when it comes to sound and personality. Peter Friis Nielsen is the kind of player that leaves his own very significant mark to whatever he does. He has a strong personal expression and his playing is of a sort that you either love or hate. Sometimes it can become nearly too much, but on this occasion it worked very satisfying, and as I recall it, this very earnest looking man was unusual humourous and smiling on stage. It really was his evening, and perhaps it explains why Taylor has credited this release to Peter Friis Nielsen/Taylor's Free universe.
Apart from Peter Friis Nielsen it is of course Robin Taylor on "atmospheric" guitar, Pierre Tassone on "processed" violin, Karsten Vogel on altosax and the above mentioned Mathiesen on drums.
The album starts with a 1½ minute solo bass, which clearly reveals what Peter Friis Nielsen's strange virtuosity is all about. After this Vogel’s alto sax starts weaving and the mood is set for an evening of dark collective improvised music featuring contemporary avant-garde rock. It is so difficult to explain what this fascinating album is all about. The weird runs on bass, the subtle and elegant alto sax, the "classic" sounding violin and Taylors own "fills" creates a almost scary (in a pleasant way..) universe, where everything can happen. Yet are the borders so clear, because everybody really works in the same direction. Everybody can take the risks they want to and they do so, but at the same time everybody is acting very responsible against the collective mind.
As an example of this (can be heard circa 5:30 minutes within the third tune "Tight Little Waves") Karsten Vogels plays a brief melodic run that in fact much later turned out to be the chorus line for a composition called "Intoxicated Lady" published on the 2006 album called Sweet & Aggressive with Vogel-Steinmetz Quartet .
The darkness and the scary mood seems to take over in the tune aptly named "Exit Elsinore" This is form-erasing avant-garde and (as I recall) a few people of the audience chose to leave. Very stupid indeed, a ticket gives access and nothing more, and you will never know how a concert will turn out until its over. In this case a few people missed a historic event due to their own lack of respect. If "Exit" is balancing on the extreme edge the last track, "Train" (home?), is somehow even more far out; here all musicians do all they can, turning the inside of their instruments out. A very noble end of a memorable performance.
A year after this concert Taylor's Free Universe teamed up with Friis Nielsen once again, but this time with Kim Menzer as a last-minute substitute for Karsten Vogel and jazz drummer Lars Juul to record Family Shot. In 2005 the free universe played a few more gigs of which one delivered the substance for the Manipulated By Taylor album. In September 2005 they played at Toldkammeret for the second time. Unfortunately this also became their last gig. One can only hope...a re-union (or even better a re-birth) is always a possibility...
What we have however is five albums of which I can recommend this secret little pearl (read: masterwork).
Today (January 2008)
Pierre Tassone runs the website http://www.musicbymail.dk/. Practically a distribution company for alternative music.
Kalle Mathiesen has several projects including the on-going Kalles Worldtour.
Karsten Vogel is achieving great succes with recently re-united Secret Oyster, Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Vogel-Steinmetz Quartet but also has a new band and album on its way.
Robin Taylor continues to record and has no less than three albums due to release in 2008. An album, soon to be released, will feature a new surprising working partner - a veteran from the international heavy metal scene - displaying him as one of the most flexible artists on the contemporary scene today
Peter Friis Nielsen has continued his own underground career and is active as always. Very often teaming up with drummers Peter Ole Jørgensen or Stefan Pasborg, but he also works regularly on the European avant-garde scene along new stars as well as veterans like Peter Brötzman. In 2007 he has recorded and toured with a trio featuring polish sax genius Mikolaj Trzaska and P.O. Jørgensen.
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