The Art Neuro Weblog

From The Vaults - Gordon Haskell: It is and It Isn't
I've been asked to review this album. There are reasons why one might be asked to review this album by an old friend. Let me explain the background first. Some time in the early 1980s when I was at High School, I got into 'progressive rock' Prog Rock as it is more commonly known. They're the guys who would write pieces (not songs) that would last, say, 23minutes, which was a whole side of an LP. One such band was King Crimson whose 1970 offering was Lizard. Lizard featured on its second side, a one-side musical medley called 'Lizard' featuring the vocal work of Jon Anderson from Yes, another Prog Rock band. The rest of the album featured the vocals of one Gordon Haskell, who was chased out of the band after the one album. It Is And It Isn't was Haskell's solo album that came out shortly after his departure in 1971.

Now, when I was buying Prog Rock albums, the vast majority had been axed from the catalogue carried by the Australian labels who were busy selling us such wonderful things as Midnight Oil and Dire Straits. So in order to buy this stuff, one had to either order them in from overseas or buy them second-hand. Now if you were ordering a Japanese pressing of an LP for $17, one wanted to be sure it was a classic, like say Relayer by Yes. However, if one were not so sure of its classic status, then one would buy the album secondhand from the pre-loved bin at 310 Pitt Street run by a nice gentleman by the name of Greg.

So on the strength of having been on Lizard, my Prog-Rock loving friend and I each bought a copy of It Is and It Isn't, sometime in the murky parts of 1983. The album got played a couple of times and quickly got forgotten fort all these years. Since then, the album has become a bit of an in-joke reference about the maniac degree to which we would hunt down Prog Rock related material; it also kind of marked the outpost beyond which there was no point going.
Now, the idea was to go back and listen to it after all these years to ascertain exactly why this mighty work was consigned to its obscure status as 'Outer Limit Signpost' in our respective record collections.

So here was the challenge: Find the bastard in my record collection, listen to it and write a review so that we remember just what lay at the outpost of Prog Rock.

What Do I Remember About it?
I recall a generally naff album with an amorphous song-writing style that doesn't go anywhere. It's also listless and un-challenging. The cover art featuring garden gnomes is positively batty, but also of its time. Indeed, the title is naff; the playing was naff; the subject matter was naff. That sort of album. Basically, I couldn't remember anything *significant* about it - like, it rocks, or it cooks, or track 2 is a killer, or anything resembling that kind of impression. On impression stakes, 'Karn Evil 9', this wasn't; but then again, how many of them really were that impressive?

Who's on it?
Looking through the credits, the only name I recognise apart from Gordon is John Wetton.
John Wetton, Prog Rock bass player exemplar handles the bass work in good style. It's good enough for a close listen. As usual he's adept, interesting and serviceable. You have moments that hark back to some Prog Rock feels, but generally the whole album is a good deal more laid back than any Prog Rock album. It comes across as more of a thoughtful, Blues Rock/Folk Rock kind of work with small bursts of Prog stylings.
David Kaffinetti of Rare Bird handled keyboards. He went on to become David Kaff who played Viv Savage, the Keyboard player for Spinal Tap... So to speak.
If you thought that was obscure, a Bill Atkinson was on drums - I can't find ANYTHING on him.
An Alan Barry provided the Lead guitar; another person who I can't find any info on.

Arif Mardin mix engineered it and produced it. More interestingly, we see the name of Ahmet Ertegun, head of Atlantic Records on the sleeve. People called Graphreaks did the cover design; they also handled Led Zeppelin IV so it's not as if they were some bunch of crazies. Just for kicks I looked them up in Google, but they don't seem to be operating any more.

Side 1.
Track 1 'No Meaning' is a bland Blues Rock offering. Competently played but it won't blow off anybody's socks... But maybe that's the point of this album.
Track 2 isn't exactly a killer, but it does have a time-change in it; it must be Prog Rock.
Track 3 and 4 are a bit more down. I never liked these ballady things they used to do.
Track 5 has a bit of ensemble playing with nice backing vocals. It reminds one a little bit of Deja Vu by CSN&Y.
Track 6 'When I Lose'... Not much to say being 18 seconds long.

Side 2.
Track 1. 'No Need' A little more of the CSN&Y feel in there. Not too bad.
Track 2. 'Worms' The most Prog track of them all. Almost works up some intensity, but never gets enough heat to boil over.
Track 3 'Spider'. Starts with a shuffle beat. Always something that's a bit hard in Rock music. Then builds to a luke warm crescendo, but by then you're used to the energy level of the album.
Track 4 'Leatning to Feel'. Another Folk music-like offering.
Track 5 'Benny' And yet another low energy Folk Rock kind of thing, but this time it abruptly goes into a horn arrangement at the end.
Track 6. 'When I Laugh'. It's 25 seconds long. What can I say? Nice coda?

What's Good About it?
Surprisingly, the songs are good. They are not polished, but then that would be the point of an album that is filled with ambivalence. As we can tell from the album title and song titles, Haskell's album is a catalogue of ambivalent scenes, emotions, observations and a whimsical non-participation in the Rock-posturing common in 1971. He's opting out, here. Haskell sings, but also plays acoustic guitar; he's a much better player than I remember him to be. There are plenty of nicely rendered acoustic passages; some sound a bit like Pete Townshend's acoustic guitar work on Rough Mix. Even the voice reminds me of Townshend's 'Street in the City'. However that's only in parts.

The overall vibe is mellow, relaxed and mature. That's right. This is a very mature kind of sonic experience; something I had not really given thought to as a teenager hanging out for a bit of excitement. You don't expect testosterone charged youths to stop and consider the ambivalent feelings in life. Hell no. Yet, it's an album that asks you to relax and take it in gently. Not, grab you by the throat and throw you around the room like, say, Red by King Crimson. And that is perhaps why Gordon was asked to leave; he wasn't really intense like the other guys in 'Crimso'.

What's Wrong With It?
Haskell's vocals aren't very strong; he doesn't give his melody the best they could get. The mix is bad; it's a murky, un-inspired mix. The arrangement is often unimaginative or inappropriate. The best bits are sometimes just Gordon singing simply with his guitar strumming. Unfortunately the producer felt things had to be shoved in it to make it more 'exciting'; and yet it never gets exciting. Alan Barry's lead breaks are pedestrian. If there's anything to single out as a dislike on this album, it's the unimaginative blues-rock guitar figurations of this one Alan Barry. It's like third rate Eric Clapton on valium. Clearly the album deserved a more inventive approach, but it is Barry's playing that drags it back to the ordinary. It could've been good; he ruined it!

What got me as a teen was how there wasn't any intensity. The whole album is just so laid back. As an adult I can appreciate that it's meant to be an entirely different offering to Prog Rock, but the answer wasn't to denude Prog Rock of all intensity. It is as naff as I remember it; but oddly enough I don't mind the naff-ness of it. If I want intensity, I can go put on Larks' Tongues In Aspic. This is a deliberately different venture and I should give it the credit it deserves.
It might be a really good album to chill out to at the end of a long night's conversation about way-out things. Or on a Sunday afternoon, something to listen to instead of watching the ABC Arts shows give you the politically correct review of films.

I don't know. 20 years has knocked edges off of me a little so I can appreciate the mellowness of this album, and that's got to be good. I think it might not be 20 years before I put this record on again. I thought I'd be a lot more harsh and cruel towards this record, but I must say I was smiling through most of it, imagining what the session might have been like. It gets 3 stars out of 5. - It's got Viv Savage on it!

- Art Neuro