Power Tools – Strange Meeting

Someone just visited my Last.FM page and I thought I’d see what they were listening to and I noticed the name Power Tools, hence the following post. Strange Meeting. 1987. Longer ago than I like to think. Antilles was a sometimes forward-thinking record label and this was its most interesting release, imo. Power Tools was a trio headed up by retiring axeman of the moment Bill Frissell, the inestimable Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums and sometime Arto Lindsay bassist Melvin Gibbs. I listened to Strange Meeting a lot at the time. As I only have it on vinyl, I put on some Naked City, specifically the creaking, spooky Leng T’che. I’m going to see whether I’m up to the 31 minute Absinthe when it arrives, I’m still on the radioactive horror of Fleur Du Mal at the moment. And now it’s been sliced open by Artemisia Absinthium… Anyway, Power Tools. After a little checking, it seems it’s been long out of print. An Amazon UK reseller is trying to sell a copy at the ridiculous price of £101… Amazon US resellers are trying for around $70 and on eBay a vinyl copy is going for $3.99 with 3 days to go. Of course my copy’s upstairs in the cupboard. Another reason to buy a record player, perhaps, or more likely resurrect my old Leak Truespeed deck (for which Google returns no references). Anyway, Power Tools. Was a brilliant, shredding trio that I’d love to hear again. Frisell I lost touch with sometime after his sixth album, once he’d travelled too far from the me(n)tal path that I so enjoyed, Shannon Jackson faded into the shadows sometime round the mid ’90s I think (last I heard he’d gone back to Texas to look after his ailing mother)… this is starting to sound like that lyric to Iggy Pop’s Dum Dum Boys… Strange Meeting is one to watch out for anyways, it deserves a reissue. In the meantime here’s a fine Naked City track in their death ambient mode…

PS Can’t help but think that Leng Tch’e prefigures Sunn O))) by a decade and a half and the fact that Frisell was a floppy haired mid-westerner lends the music an extra frisson or three.

MP3: Naked City / Artemisia Absinthium

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You’re currently reading “Power Tools – Strange Meeting,” an entry on A Personal Miscellany

Published:: 24.01.06 / 7pm

Category:: music

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I’ve been writing this blog for quite a lot longer than three years and now I’m finally getting round to writing something in the About page. But what to write? Oh well, if you check the category listings you’ll see what I cover. It’s a ragtag assortment of bits and bobs, anything that catches my fancy really. Unsurprisingly, much of that is music. I much appreciate comments, but whether you feel like making them or not, I hope you find something of interest.

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peter 03.02.06 / 1pm

phew…the memories come flooding back. s’funny, i never really got the measure of strange meeting – i liked frisell and shannon jackson, but this album didn’t ever click with me. i remember reading a last exit interview where rsj and sonny sharrock slagged off frisell, abercrombie etc and i suspected that maybe shannon’s heart wasn’t in power tools. i never liked melvin gibbs much anyhow – nice hats, but not much else going on imho. as to antilles, the best album on that label has got to be the decoding society’s barbeque dog, innit?

11V 03.02.06 / 10pm

The thing for me about Strange Meeting was that Frisell alternately played both melodic and heavy. I was a big fan though and didn’t ever hear RSJ not being into it, at least in the music. That was partly Last Exit’s bag though, being rough and ready in attitude, musically and otherwise. I’m fairly ignorant about early RSJ, really got into him around Decode Yourself and the follow-ups like Texas. I wonder whether he’ll make a comeback… One of my favourite ever gigs was seeing him at I think the Half Moon Theatre in Mile End with my mate Robin. It was the band that recorded Red Warrior, but they were 200% more cheek-wobbling in person than on that slightly disappointing recording (er, who produced? our friend Billy Laswell…) Two bassists, three guitarists and RSJ at the centre of it all… he began by playing some strange pipes, dancing and grunting, then the band kicked off and didn’t stop til the end – big, heavy blues/jazz/rock/marching band hybrid. The grin on my face didn’t subside til long after it was all over.

peter 06.02.06 / 3pm

wish i’d been there…do you mean ‘taboo’ as the recording? i was quite keen on that one, but it’s a long time since i’ve heard it. barbeque dog remains my fave – vernon reid is amazing on it. and look what happened to him – living colour! better he looked after his mum like ron did.

have you heard any of the cecil taylor stuff with rsj? worth a listen….

11V 06.02.06 / 3pm

Not Taboo, I think that was one of his final ones, the cover had a sort of night-time shot of New York, maybe seen from Central Park (could be making all of that up). It was definitely Red Warrior – I own a copy on prerecorded cassette. Here’s a review. I only really known Unit Structures, Conquistador and a couple of much later ones. I enjoyed CT at the LJF the other year, but he’s rather chewy for me at the moment.

peter 08.02.06 / 11am

oh i see…i misread/understood there! Taboo’s good though (it’s all outtakes from earlier sessions, though you wouldn’t know that from the cover). do you know it? the cover shows some african dancers having some kind of shamanic party in central park by night.

ct’s generally a bit much for me too, but this one is a cracker imho…

11V 08.02.06 / 4pm

I searched Google pics and we’re both right – there’s dancers and in the background skycrapers. Nice image. I have it on vinyl. Yet another reason to connect up the record player. If you haven’t heard Power Tools recently, I’d be interested to hear what what you think if you get round to listening to those two tracks I posted up.

peter 09.02.06 / 5pm

oh dear…i get a 404 from the audio link…:-(

11V 09.02.06 / 5pm

The links work fine for me, but it’s this later post, not the current one. I usually remove MP3s a week or so after posting. I’ll leave the Power Tools up until I hear from you. If you want the others, give me a shout. It’s long out of print though I’m sure that if it were available, you would of course purchase a copy, thereby providing suitable reimbursement to both the musicians and their hardworking agents…

peter 15.02.06 / 1pm

ooh thanks. just downloaded them now and will have a listen later. and of course i would purchase it if it was a available…probably still got it on vinyl somewhere….

11V 15.02.06 / 6pm

No worries, I’ll be interested to hear whether you’ve changed your opinion…

MICK 26.02.06 / 11am

Hi
has anyone got a digital copy of this I could have? My cassette bust an age ago …early 90’s and i had quite forgotten how stunning this is!

mick 18.03.06 / 12pm

Hi I got your email and link, but the files were corrupted.
is there any chance you could try again for me ?

im very grateful for your efforts thus far

mick 10.04.06 / 9am

thank you :)
youve made an old hippy truly happy (and nostalgic!)

peace
m

11V 10.04.06 / 4pm

My pleasure.

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Power Tools – Strange Meeting

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