Re: my first bad review/ALBUM inquery (Steve L.)

[ArsOcarina@aol.com]

Way to go Steve!

In a message dated 11/27/02 9:06:53 AM, steve@steve-lawson.co.uk writes:

>There are certain people whose take on what I do helps me to 
>see what I'm doing - there's a review of my first album up at 
>www.krimson-news.com in Sid Smith's diary entry at the moment 

Well, since you won't post the review yourself so everyone can read it 
without going and hunting for it -- I will (hope you don't mind).

     From Sid Smith at: http://diaries.krimson-news.com/SidSmith.shtml

     Sunday, November 24 2002

     Listening To . . . two albums which are worlds apart but have much in 
     common.

     And Nothing But the Bass by Steve Lawson
     Pillow Mountain Records

     On Some Road by Remco Helbers. 
     Edition Blue

     The bass (acoustic or electric) is one of my favourite instruments. 
Top 
     Ten bassists? Oh , I’d have to think about it but I guess Pastorius 
has 
     to be up there because of his singular role in upturning the 
applecart 
     and pushing at the boundaries. Roy Babbington, Miroslav Vitous, Tony 
     Levin, Harry Miller and Hugh Hopper would also be keeping him 
company. 

     On another day, you'd find me including people like Bill MacCormick 
     (Quiet Sun, 801, Random Hold), Eberhard Weber, Fred T Baker (best 
     known for his work with Phil Miller’s In Cahoots) and most 
recently, 
     Steve Lawson. 

[All good company huh?]

     I came across Steve when he played solo bass (with looping 
technology) 
     on the 21st Century Schizoid Band's recent tour. Blessed with a sunny 
     disposition and prodigious digits, Lawson's music is strong on melody 
     and short on any gratuitous showing-off. 

     As well as being a track of the album, The Virtue Of The Small, might 
also 
     describe a personal and business manifesto. By spending a lot of time 
     out on the road - often playing the graveyard support slot as people 
find 
     their seats, etc., - Lawson knows the necessity and value of keeping 
     things simple and direct. 

     Consequently, much of the music on this live CD is concerned with 
     mood-setting and exposition without much in the way of obtrusive 
     window-dressing. The jaunty interplay of The Inner Game or the 
arcing, 
     haunting whale-song soliloquies of Drifting are particularly 
rewarding, 
     as is the utterly charming Blue Sticks, which cheekily weaves Lionel 
     Bart’s Fings Aint Wot They Used To Be and Blue Moon into the fabric 
     of this one-man travelogue. 

     Not quite nothing but the bass, Steve is joined by pianist, Jez Carr 
on 
     Bittersweet, for a Zawinul-esque excursion which broadens the pallete 
     of the album, although it’s the cryptic final track, Pillow 
Mountain, 
where 
     the cosy and personable tete a tete is replaced with an altogether 
more 
     ruminative discourse which emanates from quivering shrouds of 
     restrained and terse electronica. 

     Steve seems to be the very embodiment of what Robert Fripp meant 
     all those years ago, when he talked about the future belonging to 
small, 
     mobile, intelligent units. Lawson is not only out on the road most 
nights 
     of the week but cannily extending his niche market via the internet. 
More 
     power to his elbow I say. Check him out on 
http://www.steve-lawson.co.uk. 

So Steve . . . you're comming to the states for a tour when? Just a couple 
of months from now?

Best regards,

tEd ® kiLLiAn