Bill Rieflin "Birth of a Giant" First World fwd 99.03 1999 (51:31)
Intro (Non Outro) (:37)
Open Mouth (4:51)
Endless Day (5:23)
Birth of a Giant (3:22)
Spy Thriller (4:12)
Secret Cafe (4:37)
Ballad of Maria Banter (5:48)
A Casual Observation (6:06)
Uncomfortable Cafe (4:00)
Hanging Gardens (4:36)
Outro (Non Intro) (7:58)
Bill Rieflin - production, vox, various guitars, bass, synths, organ, mellotron, drums, etc with contributions by: Robert Fripp, Mark Walk, Steve Ball, Trey Gunn, Chris Connelly, the Alexandria Quartet, Pamela Golden, Scott Crane and Carmen Rizzo.
Bill Rieflin is probably best known as the beat-keeper for a number of bands over the years: Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, 1000 Homo DJs, Lead Into Gold, Pigface, Chris Connelly, KMFDM, NIN, Peter Murphy, Ruby, Sweet 75, etc. But, he is also a true multi-instrumentalist with training in piano and guitar as well as drums/programming. With this, his first solo album, Rieflin gets to flex all of his musical and production skills. Along for the ride is an impressive array of collaborators: Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and fellow labelmate Trey Gunn play guitars on most of the album, Chris Connelly (the Bells) does backing vocals on "Open Mouth", "Ballad of.." and "Hanging Gardens" and the Alexandria Quartet contribute string arrangements to the intro and "Hanging Gardens". What really suprises me is Rieflin's vocals. He does a fine job on the 6 songs that have vocals, his voice deep and melodic and somewhat reminiscent of Connelly at times. The album can be split up into a few very general categories: upbeat, offkilter rockin' pop songs like "Open Mouth", "Endless Day", "Spy Thriller" and "Outro", experimental, space-y oddities like "Birth of a Giant", "Secret Cafe", "A Causal.." and "Uncomfortable Cafe". That leaves "Ballad of Maria Banter", an almost drum 'n bass-y number with Rieflin's finest vocal output and "Hanging Gardens", a beautifully mellow string and dual vocal based song. The only dud in my opinion is the title track, the rest all work. I'm especially fond of the rockers, "Ballad.." and "Hanging Gardens". I wouldn't mind seeing Rieflin concentrate more on the non-instrumental side for future albums because he's a pretty darn good singer/song-writer. "Birth of a Giant" is a great debut, it's nice to hear Rieflin do his own thing. Look for another cd of improvised music from Rieflin, Fripp and Gunn from the same session this Autumn also on First World, "The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior" ...
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Maries CDs