HUGH HOPPER — Somewhere in France (with Richard Sinclair) (review)

HUGH HOPPER — Somewhere in France (with Richard Sinclair) album cover Album · 1996 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
Don’t panic here!! It’s not a bass duel coming from the two most gifted bass player of the Kent county, but a sweet minor collaboration where the former (Hugh) takes on the songwriting (thus making this a Hopper album, rather than a Sinclair album) and often leaves Richard on bass, guitars and of course vocals. If you were expecting a bass guitar extravaganza, there are only two tracks where both play their respective 4-strings, Hugh opting to play keyboards or even abstaining , leaving Richard interpret his songs alone. Indeed out of the nine tracks, Richard wrote only four (three of them using Hugh’s lyrics), so this was normally interesting to hear the result. Only Serge Bringolf adds a bit of drumming in half the tracks.

If I use the word “normally”, it is because this album is somehow one of the biggest deceptions in the Canterbury realm: no dissonant jazz rock, no widely open instrumental space allowing for interplay. Just 9 songs, often simplistic and somehow very English-type, where Sinclair’s beautifully-timbred voice can work wonders ((the opening Autumn Time with the two basses and diminutive keys), but not always, as some of the songwriting provides unnatural chords succession for Sinclair’s voice. He’s sometimes helped by French female back-up singers, but mostly they were there for kicks. Also of interest is the Wyatt-inflected Keep On Caring, the only Sinclair-only track, which could’ve stood in a Hatfield album, Richard trying to sound (and succeeding) like Jaco Pastorius. But will make the album endearing are the numerous reference to other Canterburians in Potted History (Not Sinclair’s best performance) and Only The Brave.

In short, a short (thankfully) album that was completely against the times (83), so much out of context of what we’d expect from them - but somehow, not far away from Sinclair’s 90’s works either – that it merits an attentive ear for the sake of having heard it, and maybe worth investigating your hard-earned cash in, if a complete fan. The only major negative point (hey this is a Voiceprint product after all) is the carelessness of the track list (never presented in the running order) and a missed index incrementation for Only The Brave, now buried in Solidarity. How typically botched up from Voiceprint.

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