La Peste [Bonus Track]

A3: Larry Love, D. Wayne Love (vocals); Segs (guitar, bass, background vocals); The Empiricist (guitar); The Mountain Of Love (harmonica, percussion, programming); The Spirit (keyboards); Dub (synthesizer, programming); L.B. Dope (drums); Sir Real Love L.S.D.O.P.T. (percussion).
Additional personnel: Bobby Valentino (mandolin, violin); Lushlife Horns (horns); Bernie Clarke (Hammond B-3 organ); Ben Chapman (cuts); Simon Limbrick (steel drum); Ned Morant (triangle); The Street Angels Choir 2000, Val Harrison, Delrig, Ray Mascarenas, Jenna Spencer, Steve Roberts, J.C., Paddy Hill, Treat, Eileen Rose (background vocals).
Includes liner notes by Charles Harrison.
Personnel: Valerie Harrison (vocals, background vocals); Eileen Rose, Paddy Hill, Rev. D. Wayne Love, Larry Love (vocals); Segs (guitar, synthesizer, programming, background vocals); Empiricist (guitar); Bobby Valentino (mandolin, violin); Mountain of Love (harmonica, synthesizer, programming); Lushlife Horns (brass); S.P.I.R.I.T. (keyboards); L.B. Dope (drums); Simon Limbrick (steel drum); Ned Morant (triangle); Sir "Real" Love (percussion); Anthony Hamilton (sampler); Delrig, Jenna Spencer, Ray Mascarenas, Steve Roberts (background vocals).
DJ: Ben Chapman.
Audio Mixers: Ray Mascarenas; Segs; Steve Dub.
Liner Note Author: Charles Harrison.
Recording information: Milo; Olympic Studios, London, England; Orinoco; Steamrooms; The Fuzzpit.
Photographer: Nigel Bennett.
Arranger: Bernie Clarke.
Most Americans' introduction to A3 came via the use of the group's "Woke Up This Morning" at the start of episodes of the television series The Sopranos. The odd combination of gutbucket rhythms, gospel harmonies, electronic bleeps, and Robb Spragg's gravely voice intoning, "Woke up this morning with a blue moon in your eye," as the camera records a passenger-seat view of a car emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel and making its way through the industrial wasteland of northern New Jersey is now an indelible TV experience. But Sopranos fans might be surprised to know that the song is the work of an odd musical collective from the Brixton district of London who sport such pseudonyms as the Empiricist (guitarist Mark Sams) and The Spirit (keyboard player Orlando Harrison). It's no wonder that placing them is difficult. They seem to have spent most of their time absorbing media depictions of America, minus any cultural context, and then mixing these undigested references up with dance music. Though the beats rarely flag on the group's second album, La Peste, elements of folk, country, blues, and gospel come and go in incongruous profusion. Similarly, the lyrics, sung largely by Spragg (sorry, he also calls himself Larry Love), name-drop endlessly and even borrow phrases and titles from other songs -- "Mansion on the Hill" is also the title of a Hank Williams song, for example, and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife" recycles Bob Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." The result is at best gimmicky and at worst pretentious. And speaking of pretentious, Charles Harrison's liner notes acknowledge the band's music to be "flagrantly inauthentic," then speculate whether "their American audience" realizes this and, if so, what they make of it. The answer, so far, is that A3's American audience is confined to Sopranos fans who don't have a clue who they are, anyway. Those fans are likely to enjoy La Peste, if they find out about it, since much of it sounds like "Woke Up This Morning," though they may well wonder what the band is on about. That's a good question. ~ William Ruhlmann