Bazooka
Perfectly Square

THE REVIEW

You know when you have that craving for jazz and amphetamines?

BAZOOKA!

It's not the silly response of a nerd trying to demonstrate their inclination for sarcasm (even though there is a nerd, and it's me. But let's skip over that) but an incendiary trio of jazzamphetamineheadsmashingbutts. Let's proceed in order: Tony Atherton on saxophone, Bill Crawford on bass, and Vince Meghrouni on drums are adopted by mama SST, yes dear children, the very label birthed by Black Flag's six-stringer Greg Ginn. Because attitude isn't something for jerks. Or maybe it is. In this case, we've got it in spades, as much as the all-nerves jazz the trio proposes.

First of all, the titles are magnificent: the dance opens with the scream of "In Defense Of Phallic Power Totems II" with a nervous rhythm, sax flights, stop'n'go, and destructive swerve all for you, and continues with the Coltrane-flavored orgasms of "Reptillicus Promiscuous" stuffed with bassist bastardist solo particle, lots of class, few nonsense. The jazz attitude also means licking one's chops with standards and little traditionalist tradition, and here we've got some meat on the fire: the Monkish "Well, You Needn’t"  where Atherton takes Thelonious and Coltrane (to name one, then choose if you prefer Charlie Rouse, add him) by the hand and takes a flight on the main theme nicely twiddling the instrument, the "fun" "Speedball” by Mr. Lee Morgan where we even get some sax effects and a furious solo, or the punkish revisitation of "Crossroads" where once again the sax stands in for Ahmad Jamal’s piano, overwhelming the "original", launched the revisitation.

But it's also time to bring up the word "avant", with the nocturnal wheezes of "Crimes Against The Elders", bluesy and stealthy, unsettling and melancholic, or the incredible 10-minute stint of "Taboobi", double sax, sharp effect, jumping bass, drum solo that breaks knees and then the Arabic theme leading to the finale, leaving your ass behind, or the sick cut-ups of "Super Stupid", segments of phrasing and mocking gestures. And if you ever get that craving for a funky touch that makes the ladies swoon, "Sex Baboon In The Court Of Nero" will take care of it, and I'm still here wondering what the hell a baboon is doing in Nero's court. You'd have to ask Greg Ginn who, as usual, saw as far as never before.

And it was 1993. Avant.