One day on the PA Crossover Team Forum I discovered that one of my colleagues used to be in a band called Kel Loch & Gold. Being my normal unassuming self I asked for a copy of the album, but was told by Scott that he didn’t have any left but would I be interested in a compilation instead? I know that this is listed as being by various artists, but of the 13 songs six are credited to Kel Loch & Gold and either Scott (Gold) or Andy (Kel Loch) played on all the rest, while 2 of the 13 are credited to Eddie Goicura who also appeared on the sole Kel Loch & Gold album, 1990’s ‘Men In Black’. So, there may be a few different names for the bands, but the two guys responsible for O-Zone, a MIDI controlled recording studio and production facility (which is why this is subtitled ‘an O-zone assortment’) had their hands in everything.
This 1992 album doesn’t really belong in that decade, but at the beginning of the one previous, and includes a multitude of styles from IQ to Talking Heads and pretty much everything inbetween. When they want to get a little heavier then do, or if they want a little funk in it comes, but to me this is all about serious music that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I have never been a fan of programmed drums, but that aside this is an album that I found myself enjoying a great deal. But, it does have to be said that there is one song that is head and shoulders above the rest, one song that more than any other has its’ birth in the world of Zappa. That song is of course “Fat Nick”. Apparently an ape escaped a secret scientific experiment where he was being trained as a soldier, and recruited by the underground as a hitman. As it says “do not attempt to apprehend him for he is armed, dangerous, and has fleas”. This sums the album up for me as it is infectious, is fully tongue in cheek, and is just great fun. I defy anyone not to sing along with this the very first time they hear it.
There is a website dedicated to these guys, http://fatnick.tripod.com/Klag.html. All I need to do now is find a copy of the debut, as if it is half as good as this then I want it!
