No-Neck Blues Band - Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt Me
(Koch)
You’ll forgive me if I’m not up on my NNCK mythology. The fact that I bought
this particular disc at a local Borders Books & Music store illustrates how
out-of-the-loop I actually am. There’s an air of mystery around the phrase "No
Neck Blues Bands"--I find it hard to believe it coincidental that the author of
their "Bands Not in the Trouser Press Guide Guide" (available in Badaboom
Gramophone #3, which is still available, if you know where to look) is named
Adam Lore. This mythology is probably just a construct in my head, though,
borne of ridiculously high praise and the scarcity of their actual work--word
has it that the Band is just a group of New York musicians, joined by various
other musicians from other places, making beautiful music.
From what I gather on this particular record, "beautiful music" means taking
cues from the deepest, darkest blues, the sort of stuff that doesn’t even sound
remotely blues-like (if you use modern-day blues as a reference point). This is
stuff of a more tribal, spiritual nature--guitars and other stringed
instruments picking out meandering melodies, sticks beating on wood blocks,
people stomping their feet and chanting. Doesn’t really matter if there are
actually 4 tracks on this disc (according to the insert) or 7 (according to my
player). Doesn’t matter that Jerry Yester (a name formerly associated with
performers like the Lovin’ Spoonful and Tim Buckley) produced these tracks.
Doesn’t matter that the CD packaging consists of a CD tray glued to a wood block
seared with the NNCK logo, with a rectangular plexiglass slab as the case’s lid.
This is music that transcends all those meager details, hitting upon something
primal, basic, and atavistic. This could very well be myth making. If Sticks
and Stones... is your introduction to this hidden corner of popular music, you
could find yourself at the beginning of an interesting trip.
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