Firebird

(TMC)
by Martin Popoff

Funny how all these really heavy folks are discovering that music isn’t supposed to be painful. They call it entertainment for a reason. It’s supposed to tickle your fancy, although to be fair, there’s always a place for anguish in art.

Firebird is Bill Steer from Carcass and Napalm Death, Ludwig Witt from Spiritual Beggars (there’s some irony for you), and Leo Smee from Cathedral. With a gang like this turning their attention to stoner rock, one might expect a fresh, brainier approach, and that’s what Firebird delivers. What the boys have done here is make the best Cream album ever, which – cat got your nose – doesn’t mean the (Eric is) Gods have touched down. The idea of the best Cream album ever isn’t exactly that inviting after all that’s happened to music in 35 years. I mean, it’s kind of amusing, even intriguing, but it’s sort of an exercise, a theory, an archival supposition. Some neat things happen here though. For the first bit of this “played card,” Bill can’t sing, then all of a sudden he becomes Jack Bruce. Cuuuu-eeeel. And the crappy authentic ’60s garage production is a pain also, but then you slide down your ratty but comfy chair. Cool again. All of a sudden, you’re laughing right along with the timetwist and even enjoying yourself. Music. Pretty funny though how it took all of Michael Amott’s stellar Spiritual Beggars’ reviews for Bill to see the crud. His crud ultimately is almost too cruddy though, although Cream fans should be sufficiently aroused, that is if any of them have bought a record since the demise of 8-tracks.
(106 West 32nd St. 3rd Fl. New York, NY 10001)