Flight of the Cosmic Hippo

The cover tunes here seem to run between the high and low ends of the spectrum, which is why I notch down a star. "Star of the County Down," propelled by Howard Levy's masterful harmonica, is beautifully reworked into a slow, bluesy country waltz. "The Star-Spangled Banner" is hardly recognizable at first, being embellished with furious banjo picking and a shuffling synth-drum beat more suited to a lively jazz performance. The track bears numerous repeat listenings and ends up surprisingly resistant to becoming a one-time novelty, but their reworking of the Beatles' "Michelle" never gets off the ground to me. I keep wishing they'd used that album space for another of Bela's own tunes instead. Every one of those is a dynamic, fascinating exercise in modern composition, from the oddly funky groove of "Flying Saucer Dudes" to the driving "Turtle Rock" to the strange odd time signatures of "Jekyll and Hyde (and Ted and Alice)." If you're a musician you'll be blown away by the sheer superhuman skill of everyone in the group.. if not, you'll still have to admit that it just sounds really awesome.

Bela and his Tones embody the true spirit of fusion more than possibly anyone else - they take great delight in bending, ignoring or destroying any notions of style or genre we might have, making everything sound fresh, inventive and full of promise. Cosmic Hippo can't quite compare with the monumental Live Art as their most perfect album, but there's enough incredible stuff to make it well worth picking up. Just be prepared to spend more money on the others once you get hooked.