Most of the 20 tracks collected here are certainly outside pop convention, but beyond a shared weirdness and the fact that fans of standard melody will not find much to like, it s doubtful these songs really belong in the same place. At its best, this collection proves that there is unmarketable but precious talent on the margins. These are the work of the mentally deficient and the underrehearsed. Compare, for example, the off-tune warbling of 60s producer Joe Meek on an early demo of the song Telstar and a series of excerpts tracing the gestation of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band s Vampire Suite. Okay, there s the borderline-personality thing Meek blew his head off with a shotgun, and it s said that Beefheart physically abused disobedient bandmates but in the world of pop music, borderline personalities are no rarity.
Strangeness is one of the hallmarks of great popular art.
You get Morcheeba, a band whose singular, soulful sound has up until now gained only moderate commercial success. Despite having gotten a bit too caught up in imitation rather than innovation, the trio have succeeded in making an album that s accessible without compromising their artistry. Morcheeba retain an unmistakable identity amid their fetish for juggling musical elements. Down just might get this incredible vocalist some long-overdue attention. Lacking much of the musical and lyrical depth of the band s previous work, Fragments of Freedom will likely leave some hardcore fans disillusioned.