Fictitious Sports [Import]

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason released his first solo album Fictitious Sports in May of 1981. The album was hugely ignored when first released and peaked at a dismal #170. This album may say Nick Mason as the artist, seeing as he played all the drums and co-produced and helped record the album, but the tracks were all written and co-produced by jazz artist Carla Bley. The album featured a good collection of jazz artists like Carla, her husband trumpet player Michael Mantler(whom also helped record the album) and saxophonist Gary Windo plus rock artists like former Soft Machine drummer and vocalist on all but one track Robert Wyatt and session guitarist Chris Spedding. The album was recorded in 1979 but wasn't released until 1981 as CBS saw that it would be bad luck to release in England before America. The album starts with the funny Can't Get My Motor to Start which is about Nick's love of cars and automobiles and featured male and female voices. Next was I Was Wrong, which was a science fiction song and the first to feature Robert Wyatt's vocals. Next, is Siam which would not have sounded out of place on a Pink Floyd album as does the next track Hot River in where Chris Spedding does David Gilmour-type guitar work and musically sounds like something from Dark Side of the Moon. The rock shuffle Boo to You Too kicked off the second half. Do Ya follows and is not the ELO song but a nice quiet jazz type slow tune. Wervin' follows and sounds like The Police meets Basie. The closing track, I'm a Mineralist, which sounds like another Floyd outtake with its atmospheric music and excellent drumming fom Nick. This album is now out of print. Highly recommended!

... since this is, of course, nearly impossible to find, just as it was back in '81. The title really should be "Nick Mason Piggybacks Carla Bley's Band (minus drummer D. Sharpe and a few others) Onto a Major Label," but Mason doesn't do too bad a job here. The twisted, chugging funk lines on several tracks and the Phillip Glass parody section on "I'm a Mineralist" are worth the price, along with great work from Michael Mantler and Robert Wyatt. By the way, despite the earlier review's comments, Carla Bley does not sing on this recording, though, trust me, if you don't like this vocalist you would like Bley even less - "yowling" is the kindest description for her voice I can muster. She's an interesting writer and performer, and a great bandleader, despite that, though "Fictitious Sports" is more of a goof than anything else.

I haven't heard any of Carla Bley's other stuff, but I'm not at all sure I like her voice. Something about the odd guitar work and feeling of the music clashing severely with her light, over-cheery voice got the album off to a bit of an unpleasant start.
On the whole, it's a nice stab at the blending avant-garde with the ordinary, and after hearing Robert Wyatt on this, I'm tempted to check out if he's done any other works. It's clever, if a bit too light overall. A couple of the tracks would go better without vocals; the interesting musical concepts were nice, but the singing either didn't fit in or tried too hard.

But enough kvetching--when the humour on here works, it's a well-done laugh. "Boo To You Too" razzes unappreciative audiences and critics right back--kinda like that one rejoinder Bob Dylan had to the critic who questioned his songwriting capabilities. And to those with a fair (if only very slight) knowledge of the avant garde of the 20th century, "I'm a Mineralist" is a hoot--"Erik Satie gets my rocks off/and Cage is a dream."
A couple of the jokes get a bit belaboured, but overall, Wyatt's voice reminds the listener to lighten up and relax.

I'd suggest that if you're interested in the solo albums of Pink Floyd's members, go with any other one--even Mason and Fenn's "Profiles"--before you get this. Guitarist Chris Spedding's work here isn't bad--but Dave Gilmour's still more interesting. The jazz is alright, but Rick Wright's "Wet Dream" gives more jazz with fewer problems. And the voice and lyrics are attractively quirky, but I'm still drawn to Roger Waters' lyrical precision and vocal emotiveness over this.
If you're going to spend money on this, make sure it's not too much, cos you might feel more letdown in paying too much for less than you expected.