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FREQ
CALVERT, ROBERT
1975 , SOUTH AFRICA
, EAN CODE 5013929630123 - EURO 13.00
Label: ESOTERIC RECORDINGS/ATOMHENGE
ALBUM REVIEW
Freq was originally released in 1984, 2 years after Robert Calvert's last solo outing, Hype. The CD release includes two bonus tracks - "Lord of the Hornets" and "Greenfly and the Rose" taken from the 1980 single that Bob recorded with a cast of Hawkwind members such as Lemmy (bass) and Simon King (drums). The original album itself is somewhat on the short side - there are 5 songs, interspersed with curious audio footage taken at some sort of workers' rally at the height of the miners' strike. The conversations are fairly bizarre, and Bob plays it for laughs, remarking 'Hitler was Margaret Thatcher without the moustache' at one point. The songs themselves are rather different from the 'Songs of Tom Mahler' aired on Hype. On Hype Bob was pretending to be a rock star, and sort of got away with it... On Freq though, the synthesisers and strange effects dominate. The first track is "Ned Ludd", who apparently had 'Japanese eyes'. A highlight is 'Acid Rain' where Bob's lyrical wizardry comes to the fore. The album is loosely themed around industrialisation and the plight of the worker. Bob's voice takes a bit of getting used to here - it's not as crisp as some of his earlier stuff, but adds to the overall weirdness. What makes the CD album so good though, is the inclusion of the bonus tracks. "Lord of the Hornets" is one of Bob's most popular songs, and "Greenfly and the Rose" is excellent. Probably far from Bob's most accessible album, but a treat nonetheless. (Netto - Rate Your Music)
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