deaser26's Full Review: Quite Notable by The Notables
We’re in the MOVIES!!!
The Notables version of Perdido was featured in a pizzaria scene from the third season of the Sopranos. They also have a song featured in the movie “The Sex Monster” with Mariel Hemingway. Both of these accomplishments have taken the Notables out of the realm of sometime Seattle obscurity and etched their names into a couple of excellent soundtracks.
In another episode of the Seattle Underground Music Mafia (SUMM) Johnny “Guitar” Horn, Matt Nims, John “Big Foot” Rodde and Andrew “Jurgen” Sodt have produced an amazing collection of original and covered SKA. This is a veteran crew churning out albums year after year in many combinations and under many banners and team configurations. They have been (in no particular order), HI FI Killers, Lushy, Junior Jackson, Raw Vibes, Notables and the Skillet Lickers. Horn and Nims are the creative genius behind the long series of albums spanning back into the early nineties. The former Bellingham schoolmates have kept in contact, and kept in the recording studio putting out funk, Ska, reggae, dub, trip-hop, blues, tiki-lounge music and what passes for some pretty serious production.
One of the strange tidbits of Notable trivia are the pseudonyms that the band took on. Clive Williams, Lester Moore, Lonesome Jerome, Winston Sharples, Malcolm McDermott, Snuff Wilson and Gitsie are all made up names that Horn and Nims crafted for the sake of marketing. These studio wizards have made a protracted and sometimes unprofitable habit of going incognito. But in this case the AKA has produced some very serious SKA.
The Notables first album Quite Notable is an excellent collection of loose and crunchy Ska. The horns are solid if at times cranky. The rhythm section locks in the groove song after song. This one is excellent for party time, firing up some smoke and getting puzzled, or just having an evening of your favorite adult Jamaican beverages.
The Songs Themselves
1 - Escobar - Was this played at the triumphant return of some strangely coronate, bastardized, Columbian royalty? Was it written as a tribute to Pablo? The trombone takes the lead at first leading us down the path of this none too subtle groove. Sodt plays the requisite tenor solo, and holds his part down. Then comes the guitar, a djangoesque way to fade to the end.
2 - Knuckles The horns play the melody, loose and comfortable. No one is ahead of the beat in any way; you have to get relaxed just to understanding how far behind the beat these guys have come. Each song follows a similar pattern, with twists occasionally. Sodt again solos well, diving under the covers of the groove and twisting notes around them. Then the horns are back.
3 - Teen Party Here we are transformed into an early sixties beach blanket bingo. The kids could twist to this if they knew how, or just do the swim. Either way it makes me feel the vinyl couches and the icy cold lemonade in the metallic and shiny cup. The room where this party takes place has deep, orange shag carpets, and I don’t mean shag so’s you’d dig it. You can dig the groove though, which is steady, strange and lovely. The horns even bridge off a bit and give you a nice little break to fade away through.
4 - Who Knows Full horn section fuel this easy-going Jimi Hendrix/Buddy Miles cover. There is a pretty rockin’ harp solo, and the bass line is steady and melodic. The harp carries the day, wailing over the top of the island beat.
5 - Rude Mood Trumpet gets to take his turn first, soloing to guide us to the truth. The horns come in soon after, joining in with the rhythm section. They are still swaggering, and a little high – but the movement of the song is just fine. The trumpet solo in the middle is one of the highlights of the album. Midway they shift gears, and head out onto the home stretch at a breezy pace. This is a trumpet based song.
6 - Misfit Trumpet and sax duet at the beginning with a bouncy melody, which is all just a set up for the solos to come – and for the emotion. The sax and trumpet trade back and forth a bit. The tenor solo is better on this song, a lot of movement and a nice rich tone.
7 - Godfather Ska Yeah, it does get hard to distinguish the groove from those crunchy Italian horns in the cover band at the wedding in GF1, and the crunchy horns here. They even give us a little of that Mediterranean mandolin sound. This one is closer to the Greek Isles than it is to Jamaica.
8 - Palladin Gunshots at the beginning give us the taste of Have Gun Will Travel. This is actually a quite entertaining run at the 1950’s old west theme song. The horns are tighter than on many songs, and the rhythm section moves ahead with their usual grace.
9 - Vital Organ Here we have an organ based Ska – and while not Jimmy Smith it does give you that sixties organ in the back ground feel. The chords are interesting and the movement feels a lot like an old Turtles or Grass Roots groove. The play on words in the title is delightful fun.
10 - The Beachcomber There is Baritone sax honking away at the bottom end of the bridge of this one. This is a Pina Colada song, with a bottle of 151 by your side and a lot of sunshine and windy afternoons.
11 - Perdido Here we have the song from the Soprano soundtrack, with Andrew playing flute for the melody of this silly song. Made famous by the Count Basie orchestra, with Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong both recording version of it as well. The melody is familiar and quite nicely done.
12 - Night Watch This one has that “I Spy” feeling at the beginning. Toujours le groove, toujours. The horns all take turns soloing on this one with the trombone doing some of his best work. The trumpet guides us to the end.
13 - Freak Shuffle This one is the late fifties rock out shuffle. The horns are wonderful sneaking their way through some nice chord changes. Maybe even a little stripper groove toward the middle, but the shuffle is nice.
And In The End
This is a really good collection of Ska, much of it original and the tracks are good and loose. The horns lose track of pitch here and there, and the arrangements are rough, but the general feeling is an excellent adaptation of Ska. The songs are either well written, or well adapted. Don’t miss this if you are in a parrot-head mood, or just ready to get stoned to the bone and listen to some island grooves.
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