Random Hold
Avalanche

 "Carneade! Who was he?"  _{(Manzoni, The Betrothed).}

Random Hold, these unknowns. This was the band of expectations. A band with enormous credentials. A formation that could have, but did not. An unexpected flop, yet with a certificate of quality, wanted by none, but perhaps predestined. In 1976, two students from Dulwich College, England, enthralled by the 801 concert, formed a band. It was the keyboardist David Ferguson and guitarist David Rhodes. With some experimental music demos with Krautrock tendencies and some poorly ended auditions, they decided to recruit, the following year, drummer Pete Phipps from The Glitter Band.

Then, a stroke of luck, they found a singer who temporarily served in the 801, Simon Ainley, here also hired as a rhythm guitarist. Ainley, thanks to the connections made from the previous experience, proposed hiring bassist Bill MacCormick, a character with an incredible history and historically rooted connections (Matching Mole, Quiet Sun, 801). MacCormick brought the band face to face with none other than Tony Stratton-Smith (Virgin Records, Charisma Records, Genesis, Van Der Graaf, Generator, Brand X, Monty Python). Many tracks were already ready, and the label, for production, considered illustrious names: Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill, and it was on the latter that the final choice fell. With the same formation and production, the band recorded two EPs and two albums "Etceteraville" in 1979 and "The View From Here" in 1980, managed to do two tours, the first as support to XTC and the second supporting Peter Gabriel. All recorded material was then compiled in a double album, which is what we are going to analyze.

The original English version contained two mimeographed sheets signed by Peter Gabriel, in which the qualities of the group's music were praised and how Gabriel himself was fascinated by the band's unique sound constructions. Indeed, the peculiarity of their music was that it hardly fit into defined canons. One can talk about post punk, new wave, progressive, indie, pop, rock, and psychedelia and within each of these genres find hooks sometimes merely hinted at or, in other instances, actually dominant. The 17 tracks of the double album stretch across rather unusual fields, blending "song" form textures with harder moments ("Meat"), more progressive ("The View From Here"), more psychedelic ("Silver Spoons / Golden Tongues", "Cause & Effect"), more easy and rhythmic ("Etceteraville", "Montgomery Clift"), more new wave ("The Ballad", "Avalanche"). The dynamic and always prominently placed bass of MacCormick guides the listening experience through Rhodes' always precise, sharp, and staccato guitars, while Synths, generally a carpet, sometimes emerge powerfully, creating a very variable and modern sonic wall, over which a frequently more percussive than dry rhythmic machine-like drum rotates. And over it all are warm and present vocals (Rhodes and Ferguson), unmistakably new wave/synth pop in style, with long and interesting lyrics ("Precarious Timbers", "Tunnel Vision").

If I had to summarize two bands, from whose fusion Random Hold might have sprung to life, I would say Roxy Music and Ultravox from the Foxx era. It would still be tentative, given the band's personality and heterogeneous mixture, but - like this - a sufficient hint.

At the end of the Random Hold experience, the group experienced a total disbandment: Pete Phipps became a full member of XTC for the albums "Mummer" and "Big Express" and the related tours, then with Roger Chapman and Eurythmics. David Rhodes ended up with Peter Gabriel's band, where he served for years as lead guitarist, MacCormick turned to politics, Ferguson to soundtracks, and Ainley to architecture. A great band ended in nothing, leaving us with a remarkable album, new in its forms and sound structures, dismantled like one does with successful companies with the breath of multinationals on their necks. Four years of life, 17 splendid songs. End of transmission.

sioulette