Espers
Espers “The Weed Tree” cd ep
This came out between the first and second Espers full lengths, and features mostly covers and Esperized versions of traditional songs. The one original composition on offer here, Dead King, also rears its regal head on the second Espers album, the imaginatively entitled “II”.
The disc starts out with the lovely traditional song, Rosemary Lane, sounding for all the world like a 21st century version of Pentangle. Indeed, Pentangle guitarist Bert Jansch did this song long ago and even named a record after it. The second song, Tomorrow, originally by Durutti Column (who I’m familiar with by name only) is full of longing. The lines, “all I wanted was your time/All you ever gave me was tomorrow/tomorrow never comes,” stuck me and made me think that maybe I should be out playing with the kids rather than sitting at the computer writing music reviews.
Speaking of kids, they’re standing here right now. Here’s their opinion:
Sophie: I think it sounds nice! Music’s fun! It sounds like people singing that are girls!
Willow: I don’t like it. I needa go pee.
Anyway, The next song is the beautiful traditional song, Black is the Color. Absolutely haunting. I’ve heard lots of versions of this song, and this is one of the better ones. The strings and the slow tambourine rhythm coupled with the melancholy female vocals give us the disc’s most haunting moments.
Next up is the lullaby-sounding Afraid, written by Nico, and the pastoral folkiness of Blue Mountain, written by Michael Hurley.
If there is a surprise on this ep, it’s the epic Blue Oyster Cult cover, Flaming Telepaths. Espers’ version is quietly ominous and clocks in at nearly ten minutes. I’ve heard the Blue Oyster Cult version, bit the intervening years have eroded my memory somewhat, so I can’t compare/contrast here.
The only original here, Dead King, ends the ep in grand style, sounding like a funeral march where sobbing mourners have magically transformed into sombre violins while somebody beats a tambourine against the royal coffin.
It’s great music for the autumn months. I can easily visualize people bringing in the harvest as the last leaves float to the ground. Maybe Espers are the grasshoppers idly sawing away on their instruments while the ants do all the real work. I say the world needs more grasshoppers.
Time to go outside and play with the kids.
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