Pete Brown and his Battered Ornaments
A Meal you can Shake Hands with in the Dark

For a long time, I wished to enrich DeBaser with the presence of Pete Brown and his Battered Ornaments. How can one not bow before such a figure, who has honored the history of rock music with his undeniable talent?

Pete Brown is mainly known for his collaboration with Jack Bruce and as the lyricist for the well-known masterpieces of Cream, such as "Sunshine of your Love", "White Room", "Politician", "I Feel Free". We know he was also a London poet, a veteran of the beat-underground scene with the group Battered Ornaments he founded, creator of the first and only album "A Meal you can Shake Hands with in the Dark" (Harvest 1969), together with guitarist Chris Spedding, frequenting the English jazz scene.

A work of great charm, this "A Meal", interpreted by its leader with particular stylistic eclecticism and pronounced underlying madness, which characterizes all his troubled career. A work of many faces, all magnificent tracks that range from dominant blues, to folk, to psych, arranged in a very original and complex way. Immediately noticeable is the lived-in singing with the histrionic ways of Pete Brown, the raw and scratchy voice, with sarcastic tones, irreverent and melancholic, with a common interpretative denominator with the theatrical Arthur Brown, Roger Chapman, and Alex Harvey, just to name a few. Additionally, Chris Spedding's clean guitar is used very interestingly, swaying in the case of "The Old Man"; delicate, in the gorgeous and dreamy "Station Song"; ragged, in the Beefheart-like and monologuing "Politician" also signed by Jack Bruce; obedient and composed, in the fluted march of "Rainy Taxi Girl". We also remember the tribal and expectant "Sandcastle" with meowing wah-wah, of pure psych nature along with "Station Song" (minimalist poetry of colors) and the more traditional concluding "Travelling Blues" with slight and pleasant off-key attitudes. A particular recognition also goes to the free sax of Nisar Ahmed Khan in "Dark Lady" and "Politician". It will not be enough for our shouting poet to sign all the pieces (even the second album "Mantle Piece"), as he will be ousted from the Battered Ornaments the very night before the concert at Hyde Park on the occasion of the "memorial concert for Brian Jones" due to relationship contrasts, given his bizarre character, he will then form a new group all to himself, the Piblokto!, for a more melodic and less elaborate genre and will finally join Graham Bond. We dare to say that for the duration of the tracks and variation of themes, this legendary work of the Albion underground of 1969, with its unmistakable blues matrix, is a mix of psych-prog-jazz experimentation, with undisputed expressive potential.

Even today, this magnificent work left on the margins too quickly, is very pleasant to listen to, especially for those (including myself) who love things a bit out of the box, not too soothing. I highly recommend releasing it into the environment!