Short Reviews [John Shirley & Jerry King - 2022 - "Escape from Gravity"]

Here we have the third album from the team of Blue Oyster Cult lyricist and horror/fantasy writer, John Shirley, along with guitarist/bassist/horns player Jerry King (Cloud Over Jupiter, Moon Men, Manna Mirage etc) together with associated guests such as Dave Newhouse (Muffins) and solo artist Pete Zolli (the booklet details who plays on which tracks). This is a combination of songs and poetry set to music, and some of these are adapted from Shirley’s first book of poetry, ‘The Voice of the Burning House’. There is a great deal going on here from straight rock to progressive, with some avant-garde and jazz thrown in for good measure, while the focus is always on the vocals and lyrics. One gets the impression that it is as if two different sides have come together and then been combined, as the vocals are often more spoken than sung, and in fact some are more like poetry readings, and the music has been put against this output to accentuate and further dramatize what is taking place. At times I found myself being reminded of the excellent Cadabra series of book adaptations where they take classic stories by the like of Edgar Allan Poe where an actor delivers the story while the music is designed to take us in a cinematic direction. At others there are definite nods to Beefheart, while Ian Beabout’s final mastering has ensured everything is kept dramatically separate and highly focused. This does not sound like music of today, but rather something which was coming out of the experimental free-thinking scene of the early Seventies and is certainly of interest to those who like their lyrics to be powerful and thought provoking.