I was a teenage Mission fan (weren’t we all?). Their invigorating brand of Byronic romanticism on record and beery camaraderie in concert garnered them a huge and devoted following; bombastic crowd-pleasers (“Hungry As The Hunter”, “Serpent’s Kiss”, “Bridges Burning”, “Fabienne”) rubbed shoulders with more intimate fare (“Island In A Stream”, “Love Me To Death”, “Wake (RSV)”, “Forevermore”) and a whole host of choice cover versions (“Like A Hurricane”, “Dream On”, “1969″) before settling with the uplifting finale of “Tower Of Strength”.
The trouble with The Mission is that they stuck around too long. Their debut album was strained in the vocal department but otherwise soaring and impressive (and a distinctly un-Goth noise was already emerging); their second album, the depressingly second-rate Children (what happened to the songs?), was huge-selling but somewhat stillborn in retrospect. By the time of Carved In Sand the band had hit a startling song-writing streak of pure expressionism and joyful music-making. Grains Of Sand and The First Chapter tidied up their catalogue and – had they split up when guitarist Simon Hinkler jumped ship during an American tour – their legend would be inscribed on tablets of stone.
So it’s no surprise that The Mission‘s departing live shot, Live & Last, concentrates exclusively on their early glory years. The Mission took up dance-rock and introduced elements of folk and pure pop into their repertoire for the critically-mauled Masque and there the history should end. It turned out that they were a sum-of-the-parts ensemble who, once Hinkler dropped his guitar and ran, became Wayne Hussey’s song-writing vehicle… with all the bloated ego that implies. Neverland was like an entirely different band producing a disappointment, and then Blue was the sound of a dead horse being sliced into edible chunks, after which even Hussey himself realised that the game was up and split the group.
This is why AurA and Aural Delights was such a surprise when they were released a few years later – not only because it was practically a Mission b-sides album but also because it signalled a return to their early sound. The advent of their final studio album, God Is A Bullet, roped in two old Mission members to promote the work as a proper return to form. Simon Hinkler returned from exile (or rather from Mindfeel and psychedelic lunatics The Flight Commander, to give them their proper names) to add guest guitar, and All About Eve‘s chanteuse Julianne Regan blended her vocals intimately with Wayne Hussey’s for the first time in over a decade.
While Hinkler is present and correct on this souvenir live album,Regan’s soaring counterpoint is sorely missed. Hussey’s voice on Live & Last sounds strong but ragged, as if he’s been on tour for twenty years, and the music merely proficient. Seemingly little more than a pick-up covers band, the four other members struggle to match the histrionics The Mission‘s music requires.
More than once on Live & Last an audience member can be heard to cry “we’ll miss The Mission!”, but on the basis of this performance, I think they should have been missed fifteen years ago. Wayne Hussey currently lives in Sao Paolo, Brazil, is embarking on a solo career, starting several new projects (a co-writing project with The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt, the inevitable collaboration with Brazilian musicians and a stab at soundtrack work) and appears to be happier than ever now the shadow of The Mission has been lifted. He’s not the only one.
It’s strange how The Sisters Of Mercy are becoming ever more current, urgent and vital (even though they’ve been quiet for an equal fifteen years) while The Mission sound ever more ponderous, pompous and – especially in their early work – lyrically laughable and nonsensical. Who ever thought they were the new Led Zeppelin needs their ears sand-blasted. Live & Last is a limp epitaph to a briefly great band. Let them R.I.P.
Posted in Music reviews | 1 Comment »
Tags: folk, goth, live, Live & Last, rock, The Mission
July 10th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Simon hinkler recently guested on this ethiopian fusion album release :
I am Dan Harper, the man behind Dub Colossus (I recorded it in my studio
in Addis,
put all the
musicians together, co-wrote/played on etc).
I thought given my other
recent
Ethiopian release
(to great press/reviews to date) this should be sent your way.
I was recording this album (Invisible System, Punt (Made in Ethiopia)
before Dub
Colossus was
born, all of DC are on it plus e.g. Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopques and
Ethiopia’s main
man), many other
Ethiopians + guests from the UK upon my return include Justin Adams
(Robert Plant)
and Juldeh,
Hilaire Chabby (Baba Maal), Captain Sensible, Simon Hinkler (The Mission),
Zion
Train, Baka
Beyond, Ozric Tentacles etc etc. It is released after due to my heavy
workload and
as I set up my
own record label to do this. I returned to the UK post 8 years aid work
in Mali and
Ethiopia with
my Malian wife and daughter (Frome in Somerset).
Some reviews are pasted below for you. If you receive this let me know
and I can
mail you a CD
for review or some mp3s and jpegs. Although the press so far has been
great, and
the next FRoots
has a full article on the album plus a free track on the cover CD, I need
now to get
it into some
newspapers and non-world music mags. Mojo are currently looking at it I
think. The
reason being
it crosses so many genres as you will see from below and thus will appeal
to world,
reggae, dub,
dance, club, psy, rock etc fans as well.
It has been played on e.g. BBC World Service, Late Junction, Asian net etc
as well
as in the USA,
New Zealand Radio (with interview), etc etc.
Ok, some reviews now.
Best
Dan – 07515 400362
INVISIBLE SYSTEM Rock N Reel Review (just came through, not yet published)
****
Punt ? Made In Ethiopia
(HARPER DIABATE RECORDS) http://www.harperdiabate.com
Having spent several years in Africa as an aid worker, musician and
producer Dan
Harper (aka
Invisible System), was uniquely qualified when it came to the creation of
this
wonderfully strange
and slightly otherworldly album. Punt is a remarkable musical melting pot
that
crosses continents,
cultures and musical genres and in doing so gives birth to something that,
with its
blend of
Ethiopian music, dub, trance, pop, electronica, rock and psychedelia
refuses
resolutely to be
pigeon holed. Created with the assistance of an eclectic collection of
musicians
from bands as
diverse as Ozric Tentacles, Robert Plant, Zion Train, Loop Guru, Baka
Beyond, The
Mission,
Transglobal Underground and Baaba Maal, Punt is truly innovative. Recorded
at
Harper?s mobile Worm
Hole Studio in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia it features some of that country?s
finest
including legendary
singer Mahmoud Ahmed together with pianist Samuel Yirga Miyiku,
saxophonist Feleke
Hailu
Woldemariam and singers Tsedenia Gebremarkos Woldesilassie and Sintayehu
Zenebe who
last year
collaborated with Harper on Count Dubullah?s Dub Colossus project, A Town
Called
Addis. One of the
most startlingly original musical adventures of the year Punt seamlessly
knits
together these
diverse threads and in doing so gives a whole new meaning to the term
?fusion music?.
Dave Haslam
TJNelson
World Music Network
How an aid worker, who spent eight years in Mali and Ethiopia, became the
nomadic record producer, composer, musician, sound engineer and all around
champion for equality and democracy in the underbelly of the fat,
bureaucracy-laden aid organizations in the third world is a mystery only
Invisible System’s mastermind Dan Harper can answer. But it’s clear from
his liner notes, Dan’s message is pretty clear, “Fascist dictators and
insincere people beware…” Turning that frustration into music, Dan’s
found an international stage for some remarkable Ethiopian artists and an
electrifying amalgum of sound with his debut recording *Punt Made in
Ethiopia*.
Dipping into a stew of dub, dance, rock, trance and Ethiopian traditions,
*
Punt* plays host to a guest lineup that includes Ethiopiques’s Mamoud
Ahmed
and Bahta Gerehiwot, Hilaire Shabby, Justin Adams, Joie Hinton, Ed Wynne,
Dubulah, Elmer Thudd and Gary Woodhouse among others. In addition to the
recording, mastering, engineering and CD design, Mr. Harper also provides
guitar, bass synthesizer, didgeridoo and percussion. Recorded in Addis
Ababa and the U.K., Mr. Harper plunges headlong into a mystical world of
trance, psychedelia, electronic dance music grounded by fiery Ethiopian
vocals. The result is a bit like an exotic mythology flung into outer
space.
Relying on the artistic immediacy of improvisation, Mr. Harper opens
*Punt* with
an easy groove crafted by Ed Wynne on synthesizer, Juldeh Camara on ritti
and some splendid vocals by Desta Fikra on the track “Hode Baba.” Turning
toward the dreamy, “Fiten Azorkugn” sparkles with Joie Hinton on
synthesizer, former Loop Guru member Elmer Thudd on drums and Tsedenia
Gebremarkos’s vocals and Feleke Hailu Woldeilassie and Johnny Akilu Badane
on saxophone, while Mamoud Ahmed’s vocals drift eeriely from a darkly
striking trance background on “Melkam Kehonelish.” “Sewbekagn” shimmers
with Netsanet’s sultry vocals rising out of some deliciously twangy depth,
while “Min Atefahu” is saturated with edgy guitar. Other notable tracks
include the neatly packed “Yeteleye Fikir” with Gahta Gebre Hiwot’s vocals
or the spacy electronica against vocals by Mimi and Teremage Woretaw on
“Gondar” and the combustible blend of dance and trance on “Dankira.”
With *Punt Made in Ethiopia*, Mr. Harper has found a mixed sound that is
both powerful and exotically edgy. While it may delve heavily into the
trippy electronica on occassion,* Punt* lures the listener with an almost
mythical world fusion sound while honoring the gracious spirit of the
Ethiopian soul through its vocal traditions. What a treat.
Jamie Renton – FRoots
Invisible System?s album is a bit like a wayward relative of last year?s A
Town
Called Addis by
Dub Colossus: perhaps its deranged brother, who?s been locked away in the
attic for
years,
subsisting on a diet of hallucinogens and psych rock. Masterminded by
English producer/
multi-instrumentalist Dan Harper (who was also involved in A Town Called
Addis), it
features a
combination of Ethio roots musicians and UK players from the furthest
reaches of
world and rock.
This must be the first album to find space for both Mahmoud Ahmed and The
Damned?s
Captain
Sensible. Justin, Juldeh, Dub Colossus main-man Dubulah, Martin Craddick
from Baka
Beyond and
members of The Mission, Here & Now and Ozric Tentacles, all add
embellishments to
recordings of
local musicians made by Harper in his Ethiopian studio.
The result is highly unusual and at times quite intoxicating. It starts
out warm,
dubby, jazzy, a
little like A Town Like? before moving into wilder territory, with
elements of drum
?n? bass and
techno, swathes of rock guitar, an unhinged sense that anything could
happen. It
doesn?t all work,
but there are a lot more hits than misses and Melkam Kehonelish ? If That
Is What
You Want
combines Mahmoud?s majestic vocals with rumbling electronica to delicious
effect.
Not to
everyone?s taste I?d guess, but well worth a try. I find that it grows
with each
listen.
Distributed by Discovery.
Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Jamie Renton
Fly Global Magazine
Any album that assembles an array of contributors as wide as Mahmoud Ahmed
and Bahta
Gebre Hiwot
of Ethiopiques fame, Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, and European
musicians like
beats-smith
Dubulah (a.k.a Nick Page) is likely to struggle to find a cohesive voice.
Not so for
PUNT Made in
Ethiopia, the first release on Harper Diabate.
The inspiration behind world-fusion collective Invisible System is a
British
producer, composer
and sound engineer, Dan Harper, who spent 8 years in Ethiopia and Mali, as
an aid
worker and
budding musical entrepreneur. The result of Harper?s travels is an array
of
collaborators and
styles as long as your arm which are musically held together with
Invisible System?s
anger at the
failure of large aid organisations to fulfil their raison d?etre in the
third world
(?Keep
fighting for equality and democracy? writes Harper in the CD notes) and a
trance-like blend of
dub, psychedelia and rock.
Mixed with these edgy sounds are North and East African vocals and a
smattering of
traditional
instruments. As to be expected, the influence of the Ethiopiques series
features
strongly. Mahmoud
Ahmed?s vibrato-drenched voice soars over threatening bass and synths on
?Melkam
Kehonelish? while
a cast of lesser-known Ethiopian vocal talent features during the album,
though with
varying
degrees of success. Desta Fikra?s sensuous voice is an asset throughout
but she and
fellow
vocalist Mimi fail to shine on the oddly stuttering ?Giba Wedebet?.
It is not only Ethiopian musicians that set the tone of the album however.
Juldeh
Camara?s ritti
swings alongside the reggae riff on opening track ?Hode Baba? while
British
singer/songwriter
Captain Sensible adds an impenetrable layer of guitar noise to drum and
bass finale
?Dankira?.
Invisible System is pushing an important agenda in its political activism
and
although PUNT Made
in Ethiopia is patchy and inspirationally stretched in places, there are
moments of
electrifying
mystique and the beginnings of genuine cross-cultural conversations to be
found
here. Watch this
space.
Buy from the FlyShop