DAVID THOMAS & THE WOODEN BIRDS " Blame the Messenger " ( US, 1986)

on the thresold of a tenement year

After "SOUND OF SAND"(1981), "VARIATION ON A THEME"(1983), "MORE PLACES FOREVER" (1985), DAVID THOMAS brought his (seperated from PERE UBU) whimsical avant vocalism & art philosophy to extreme with "MONSTER WALKS THE WINTER LAKE"(1986), a seductive, imaginative acoustic, theatrical, concept album.

For the next step, he changes direction.... WOODEN BIRDS this time is CHRIS CUTLER, JIM JONES, ALLEN RAVENSTINE, TONY MAIMONE, so "BLAME THE MESSENGER"(1987), built on amazing CUTLER`s drumming, is a return to avant rock lands. The jazz-rock (RIO) rhythm section keeps the compositions form open, while the rest musicians wake up eclectic memories from an art-post-punk past. If the previous solo works of DAVID dealt with winter atmospheres, this one presages the end of hybernation of avant-garage. The following year was a "tenement year", indeed.

Blame the Messenger (45mb)