Do
You Dare To Be Square?
An
Appreciation Of Twelve Cubic Feet.
As
a young teenager I was invited to join a pop group called The Apostles.
This consisted of 2 middle class schoolboys from Hampstead and one
middle class schoolboy from Islington. These were the sons of newspaper
columnists, doctors and social workers; I never stood a chance, did I?
Note to all you damned foreigners: class extremely important in
So
The Apostles were a welcome change from all that drudgery. Their
guitarist was called Pete Bynghall. When I first went to his house, he
introduced me to the work of Bertrand Russell. How many other 15 year
olds possess and actually read books by Bertrand Russell? His older
brother, Andrew, used to play drums for a pop group called Exhibit A
(who had released 2 records of their own) and had recently (1981) formed
a new pop group who rejoiced in the bizarre appellation of Twelve Cubic
Feet. Both Pete and Andrew not only enjoyed cricket on radio and
television (like myself) but they actually played the game. Pete in
particular was an accomplished batsman. For that reason alone I was
justifiably able to forgive him for his generally horrible tastes in
music.
Exhibit
A
Now
I had already become absolutely disgusted with all the pseudo-political
diatribes espoused by the anarcho-punk scene with their worship of
Crass, Flux Of Pink Indians, Peace News and CND. The politics and lyrics
of these people I found deeply offensive while the music was all such
arrant nonsense that I stopped listening to music entirely for a few
months apart from what we performed and recorded and I considered even
that to be generally third rate at the time. So when I sent a letter to
Andrew Bynghall with a postal order and asked him to record some of the
music of his two groups for me, I think I’d have welcomed it no matter
what bizarre cacophony he sent to me. Let’s face it, an elephant
farting into a colander would have been preferable to the noisome racket
made by punk bands at the time.
Indeed,
it came close: the first record by Exhibit A was called No Elephants
This Side Of Watford but it was rough and had a horrible guitar sound.
However, the second record (Distance), the two tracks they included on
the compilation album Thing From The Crypt and the various pieces on
cassette were all quite splendid and I knew then I had found a viable
alternative to commercial pop music without recourse to punk rockery. A
slightly surreal sense of humour pervades most of the brief career of
Exhibit A and yet it is for their more serious pure pop songs that they
deserve most credit. The combination of crisp, bouncy drums, precise,
sharp bass guitar, crystal clean guitar and smooth, sparkling keyboard
provides sufficient substance to compensate for the rather weak, nasal
tones of the vocalist (Dan Goldstein) who nevertheless sings in tune and
in time with a clear, strident voice.
Two
tracks were recorded at a rehearsal session shortly before or after the
first record and they both appeared on various cassette compilations at
the time, all of which vanished into obscurity. This was a fate typical
of such items in the early 1980s, almost as if instant disposability was
encouraged. Me & You is a simple love song that apparently
has no discernible factors to merit remembrance and yet it remained with
me long enough for me to find myself humming the tune the next day. In
The Wilderness is an oddity: a lyric about the aftermath of nuclear
devastation set to an austere accompaniment that perhaps The Apostles
could have achieved but coming from this group, it sounds forced and
contrived. However, this was no mere pose and certainly not an attempt
to ingratiate themselves before the politically correct music press. By
1980 many people were convinced that some sort of nuclear war (assuming
there is more than one sort of nuclear war – which, on second
thoughts, is hardly likely) was a distinct possibility and thus we find
even the most apolitical of poets and pop groups including references to
it in their works.
No
Elephants This Side Of
In
The Night. Fame. Digital Age.
Not
an auspicious debut for the group, this record is salvaged only by the
sparkling keyboards and delightful lyrics. The muddy production is
further spoiled by a horrible guitar sound that really does little
justice to these otherwise infectious pop songs, of which
Distance
(1980)
Distance.
Bollards. Platform 6.
What
a difference (and what a relief) is apparent by both the clean, clear
and crisp production on this record with the transparent sound in which
all the instruments and voices can be heard. The guitar is devoid of any
extraneous effects, the keyboards are scintillating and the bass guitar
playing (probably the best aspect of the entire record) scampers along
like a bull terrier, light yet powerful. The vocals soar above this
magic music for all they are worth. Although Distance was issued
as the ‘a’ side of the single, it cannot be considered one of their
best songs although the vocal harmonies and lyric are decent enough.
Perhaps its brevity accounts for my impression that the song sounds
unfinished. Bollards is the weakest of the tracks here and
unfortunately the bass guitar is absent but, to compensate, we are
treated to Andrew on xylophone! Platform 6 with its shared call
and response vocals (Paul Rosen provides the other voice) is easily the
best track on offer although, curiously, they opt for a drum machine
rather than drum kit to provide the rhythm track. The lyric is plaintive
and even suggests alienation. While Exhibit A were primarily a fun band,
they were neither trivial nor superficial.
Thing
From The Crypt (1981)
Echoes.
Rain.
The
two best tracks Exhibit A ever recorded are also the only memorable
contributions to this generally dire compilation album (although, to be
fair, The S Haters also make the grade – but only just). Echoes
manages to provide a strange hybrid with its infusion of Tubeway Army
and The Smiths only this song is vastly superior to any pop pap either
of those outfits ever recorded. Rain is simply one of the best
pure pop songs ever written, despite its delightfully naïve lyric. The
keyboard and bass guitar are the smoothly flowing river of sound that
carry crisp drums and spiky guitar along while Dan gives one of the best
vocal performance of his recorded career. UNIT recorded a decent enough
version of this but the original is still superior.
Twelve
Cubic Feet
Now
I heard from Andrew that the new group was to be more serious without
being at all pompous or self important. Within a matter of weeks I also
received letters from guitarist and vocalist Paul Rosen (who lived in
Middlesex at the time) and from vocalist and keyboard player Freda
Durrell who resided in Hampshire. Drummer Andrew dwelt in Hampstead and
bass guitarist Matthew in Islington. I later received a letter from
keyboard player Glenna who I discovered also lived miles away from the
others. Guitarist Sally was the only member of the group with whom I
never entered into any correspondence yet when I was sacked from The
Apostles, she offered (via Paul) to assist on guitar duties should her
services be required. Now that would have been interesting! Paul or
Freda (I can’t recall which one now) sent me a cassette of 5 or 6
songs they recorded at a band rehearsal and, despite the atrocious sound
quality, I could tell even from this abysmal recording that here was a
group able to write and perform pop songs that were highly original
without being pretentious or unnecessarily avant garde.
I
knew of no other groups at this time who were sextets that consisted of
3 men and 3 women. What impressed me most about the group were their use
of 4 different vocalists (Freda, Paul, Glenna and Matthew) and their use
of counterpoint. When Sally plays the basic chords on her guitar, the
bass guitar will dance around underneath that with its own melody while
above that Paul will play a separate melodic fragment against yet
another tune from one of the keyboards. It is not unusual to hear 4
separate melodies being played simultaneously in part of a song – but
in most pop music that ability is not common. Abba did it. Both The
Apostles and UNIT do it fairly regularly. After that, I have to think
hard to find other pop groups (other than progressive rock outfits) who
achieve this so effortlessly. Finally, there is nothing pompous or
bombastic about 12FT3. This absence of pretension was
occasionally mistaken for naïveté but during the 1980s there were so
many industrial, electronic and punk bands with claims to profundity
that were patently false or at least wildly contrived that the glorious
simplicity of a group like 12FT3 came as a blessed relief.
I
rarely go to pop concerts – since I generally have no interest in such
music, there is no reason why I should. However, I made an exception for
12FT3 and I’m glad I did. I saw them play in front of
barely 15 people at a private bar in Euston. I saw them play before
nearly 200 perplexed punks at The Autonomy Centre in Wapping. I saw them
play before an ecstatic audience of mixed trendies at The Africa Centre
where they supported The Lemon Kittens. I saw them play to nearly 500
travellers, hippies and punks at the Centro Iberico in
So
much that is effective in bebop derives from its highly creative use of
dissonance. There were times (captured on recordings of rehearsal
sessions) in the Charlie Parker band when the pianist, required to
accompany a helter skelter of improvised melodic fragments, would hit
incorrect chords and much of the time the band would stop and Parker, in
a state of excitement, would first ask him what chord he’d just played
and then implore him not to forget it. Far be it for me to dare to
compare 12ft3 with The Bird himself but they, also, were not
afraid to employ dissonance in their use of counterpoint. After all, if
such a device is good enough for Johann Sebastian Bach and Charlie
Parker then I reckon it’s good enough for the rest of us!
Straight
Out Of The Fridge (1981)
Mary
Has The Bug. Blob. Evercare. Tuesday Afternoon. Hello Howard. The
Almshouse. Escaping Again.
Mary
Has The Bug,
by Matthew, is a homage to 1950s horror films and it displays the 1970s
funk influence that was rarely far below the surface of many of their
songs. Blob is a delightful spiteful assault on sexual conceit
with exquisite sarcasm directed at the heterosexual male neurosis
concerning genitalia. Freda provides one of the best lyrics ever written
for the group and the ebullient accompaniment merely emphasises the
satirical content. Evercare, by Glenna, is ostensibly one of the
weaker contributions to the record although its gentle cadences are
infectious; this is a song of nostalgia and whimsy that improves on
repeated encounters with it. Tuesday Afternoon is a study of
boredom and gentle frustration set to music that would be repetitive but
for the sprightly arrangement whose subtle variations disguise the
monotony. Hello Howard is the only 12FT3 song
previously performed by Exhibit A. In fact the group would record a
further 2 versions of this during the next year, so popular was it among
band members and audiences. It boasts a clever, humorous lyric combined
with a highly melodic structure devoid of the tedious riffs that afflict
lower class pop songs. The Almshouse by Paul is somewhat
repetitive and definitely the weakest song in the collection here.
Despite fine playing by the ensemble and some interesting words, this
really is much ado about nothing in particular. Escaping Again by
Matthew is one of the best songs the group ever performed and certainly
deserves repeated listens. The use of counterpoint is clearly evident
here together with a stark, strangely disturbing lyric.
Between
the first album and the second (albeit unreleased) album, 12FT3
worked on various ideas, none of which were developed further.
Ultimately they chose to continue with the style and format in which
they were most successful – pure melodic pop songs where simple
harmonic progressions are enhanced by the use of counterpoint. Part
Time Punks is a cover version of a piece by a band called The
Television Personalities, about whom I know nothing. This song is poor
and not worthy of the group who evidently agree with me since they never
recorded this in a studio. With Communication Breakdown we may
breathe a sigh of considerable relief for this is not the dreadful song
by Led Zeppelin but a their own piece, a ballad from which memorable
melodies are absent which probably accounts for it never being given a
studio recording. Sybils’ Mother is an oddly repetitive piece
that I first heard performed in an instrumental version live at The
Autonomy Centre in Wapping. It sounds unfinished and despite its
effective bass guitar melody, never survived into a recording studio. Wipe
Out is the famous instrumental by The Surfaris and was only ever
recorded live at The Autonomy Centre in Wapping. My only complaint is
that neither of the keyboard players are featured on this. The band last
entered a recording studio early in 1983 – Recession Studio, later
used by The Apostles for five of their singles. Hello Howard was
recorded yet again, this time with a clarinet replacing one of the
keyboards. Although this song has been performed regularly at almost
every concert from the time of Exhibit A to the final months of 12FT3,
it has always been granted new and interesting arrangements. Besides, it
boats this splendid couplet: “Diesel engines fill my head, they run on
my one track mind – but they’re the only form of transport I can
find.” A second attempt at Tiptoes was recorded at this same
session but, while effective, is a variant rather than an improvement on
the first version. Gone are the electronic sounds and crowd noises –
in their place we have a strong jazz influence to the guitar and drum
playing which really is most effective.
Through
The Square Window (1982)
Tiptoes.
Discord. Jaywalking. 2nd Ending. Amateur Driver.
Tiptoes
incorporates a tape of crowd and party noises by Philip Johnson that
runs like a river behind the nervous jazz inflections of this oddly
appealing song with its relentless repeated phrases. Discord
provides further frantic scampering from the instruments over which the
singers soar, backed by the inevitable Casio VL Tone, the instrument
that was their trademark. Jaywalking features shared vocals by
Paul and Freda over a gently warbling keyboard on its flute setting (the
one most frequently adopted by the group) and is easily one of the best
songs written by the group with its haunting lyric and infectious
melodies. Freda sings in the lower part of her range for 2nd Ending.
We are still in nervous, slightly frenetic mood here although the
absence of memorable melodic fragments from the keyboards is unfortunate
as the song is not one of their strongest and it requires an additional
element to raise it to the high level of the other pieces in this set.
The gentle juggernaut that is Amateur Driver adopts a 1960s soul
rhythm over which the Casio and guitars playfully chase each other.
Freda and Glenna here sing at the top of their range like ethereal
beings commenting on the skittering frantic music below them. Arctic
is in 3/4 time and remains one of their more unusual songs. A strangely
haunting lyric is supported by growling swirls of sound that ultimately
dissipate into a blizzard of notes with only the bass guitar left to
repeat a rising phrase into oblivion. Fireside by Freda is one of
the very best songs 12FT3 ever composed. A memorable keyboard
melody, a whimsical lyric tinged with nostalgia, a guitar counterpoint
and an insistent bass guitar accompaniment supported by scampering drums
all combine to construct a perfect pop song. Straight Out Of The
Fridge is, if possible, an even better song than Fireside. Freda and
Paul gently sing their phrases over a bouncing, ebullient musical
support that has all the ingredients responsible for making Fireside so
memorable.
In
1981 Paul Rosen teamed up with avant garde musician Philip Johnson to
form Namedrop Records. Their entire catalogue consisted of just 4
records. There was Doof, a 10” album of avant garde nonsense that
featured Paul himself with Freda Durrell and various others. There was a
12” album by Philip Johnson that was also dreadful. Then there was the
10” album by 12FT3 which easily outsold the previous records and
rightly so. Finally there was a 7” single by Hornchurch rock group
Cold War which, being highly regarded by all the punks who had attended
their concerts at the Autonomy Centre in Wapping, became the most
popular release. In fact, had this been the first release on the label,
sufficient funds would probably have been raised to finance future
records – but they elected instead to release first the two most
difficult, trenchantly avant garde items (Doof and Philip Johnson), a
decision that ruined them financially and effectively turned Namedrop
Records into a business disaster. Thus do we live and learn!
I
remember we offered a concert appearance at the Centro Iberico to the
group and Paul replied that they were unable to perform on that day
because his parents required his presence during Yom Kippur or some
Jewish holy day at least. As a strident atheist, I had become convinced
that no intelligent person could possibly be religious (I assumed that
everyone I knew and met must also be an atheist) so, while I respected
his explanation, I could not pretend to comprehend the reason for it.
Then I recalled the Exhibit A singer who, with Daniel Goldstein for a
name, must surely also have been Jewish. Of course, I appreciated (some
time later) that while their parents may have harboured orthodox
religious beliefs, that in itself did not imply their children also
followed such strange, out-dated creeds. I realised that maybe Paul
simply wanted to avoid causing any distress to his parents so he agreed
to participate in this religious holy day. Even this possibility was an
education to me since I absolutely despised my own parents and I would
certainly never even consider going out of my way to appease any bizarre
beliefs they might have held. On the contrary, if I ever caused them
grief and distress then I would count that among my more significant
achievements.
In
one of the many letters Robert Dellar used to write to me, I learnt that
Sally was an adept fencing student. This intrigued me since I had never
met anyone previously who possessed such a skill. I was also informed
that she and her room mate had plastered the walls of her digs in
Recently
I purchased a compilation disc of various artists whose work had been
released by Cherry Red, a record company who, during the 1980s, issued a
variety of interesting and highly original records by people such as
Eyeless In Gaza, The Lemon Kittens, Five Or Six and Lol Coxhill. Two
tracks were included (both sides of a single) by a group called The
Reflections. Among their personnel were Mark Perry on guitar and vocals
(Alternative TV, The Good Missionaries), Karl Blake on drums (The Lemon
Kittens, The Shock Headed Peters, Sol Invictus) and Paul Rosen on
guitar. On reading the sleeve notes I discovered that he is now Doctor
Paul Rosen of
There
is a double disc set that features all the works by Exhibit A and Twelve
Cubic Feet mentioned in this text. It is available from BBP,
Andy Martin © 2009.
