tempobet yeni adresi
like this cd review

10/12/2016 : NASH THE SLASH - Children of the Night/Dreams and Nightmares:

NASH THE SLASH

Children of the Night/Dreams and Nightmares:

MusicCD
ExperimentalNew wave

[75/100]   

Artoffact
10/12/2016, Paul PLEDGER

Born James Jeffrey Plewman in Toronto in the late '40s and sadly deceased in 2014, Nash the Slash wasn't your average workaday rock performer, oh no. Seemingly endowed from head to foot in bandages and frequently a wearer of a white top hat and matching suit, hippy sunglasses and a slit for a mouth, Nash was hardly likely to crossover to anyone under sixteen - he probably would have scared the living shit out of them. But he took on Pepsi for using his image in a commercial without permission so fair play to him - he won (out of court).

Thus The Slash's audience was predominantly the curious who had witnessed him tour with Gary Numan or collectors of the Dindisc label, the short-lived Virgin Records offshoot that sported a roster of OMD, The Monochrome Set, Martha and the Muffins and Plewman's nom-de-plume. It wasn't every day you were faced with a bandaged electric-violin maestro with a penchant for avoiding guitars but playing syndrums and 'devices'.

His only long-play venture on Dindisc was Children of the Night, one of the three reissues unearthed by Canadian indie Art of Fact. It's a curious yet ultimately lovable album - opener Wolf is a classic example (literally). Adapted from Prokofiev's stately Peter and the Wolf theme, the piece eddys into earshot before unleashing a pretty fearsome climax that sounds for all the world like a band of hand-drills being fed back through a bank of wearying Marshalls. And it's this approach that makes his cover of the Stones' 19th Nervous Breakdown rather more enjoyable than the original and the somewhat cliched rock histrionics of the title-track all the more bearable. Jan and Dean's standard Dead Man's Curve was nearly a hit when issued as a single while Dopes on the Water borrows directly from all but the title of Deep Purple's most infamous song.

You cannot underestimate Plewman's musicianship though, even if he wrote songs like Iron Maiden but looked like a man out on bail. Check out the instrumentals included here - Danger Zone is relentless and the sound of something unnervingly portentous while Reactor 2 doesn't hold back with the tense atmospherics either. But head to Danger Zone - it is unreal, even at 35 years old and ranks as one of the greatest album-closers in synth-pop history.

Extra tracks include mixes of Swing Shift (including the Smash Hits flexi version) and explosive live tracks that merely hint as to how loud this man must have been in full flow. I'd love to hear Bruce Dickinson wrap his tonsils around Children of the Night. The one-off non-album single Novel Romance is absent though, resulting in another chance missed to round up all the DinDisc catalogue in one place.

Also reissued is the earlier album Dreams and Nightmares, previously available via Slash's CutThroat imprint. Musically on a par with Brad Fiedel's Terminator soundtracks and early Krautrock from Cluster or Neu, D&N comes packaged with the hard-to-find dual-speed EP Bedroom Companion (ArtOfFact have kindly mastered both the slow and fast versions for your enjoyment).

Tracks like The Chase and Moon Curse have all the electrical energy and frantic urgency of later pieces, while the soundtrack epic Un Chien Andalou is perhaps one of the man's most underrated yet most grandiose ten minutes you'll get to hear. Some of it sounds on a par with library music (and there's little wrong with that) but Slash had more in his arsenal than just parody or homage - he had the spirit and eccentricity so typical of the decade in question.

This review also appeared also on Flipside Reviews.

Paul PLEDGER
10/12/2016


 

Next reviews
STEVEN BROWN • Music For Film and Theatre
RADIOHEAD • A Moon Shaped Pool
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF (+ CHANTAL ACDA) • (Gent, Sint-Jacobskerk, 13/05/2016)
SOFT CELL • Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
SHIVERBURN • Road To Somewhere
BEYOND SOUL • Passion Black Dimension
HONEYMOON COWBOYS • Still
YOUFF, RUMOURS, ONMENS • Gent, 019 (14/05/2015)
COCAINE PISS/SPLIT V/A • Cosmic Bullshit + Sex Weirdo’s
BETH ORTON • Kidsticks

 

Other reviews from NASH THE SLASH
NASH THE SLASH • Dreams And Nightmares / Bedside Companion

 

Same combination of genres: EXPERIMENTAL + NEW WAVE
NASH THE SLASH • Dreams And Nightmares / Bedside Companion
IN THE NURSERY • The Fall of the House of Usher
MARCEL VANTHILT • Paracetamol Remix EP
SOL 19 , TRUE ZEBRA , HYBRYDS • Antwerpen, JH Wommel (1/02/2014)
DONOVAN TATE • Scrapbook

 

Same genre: EXPERIMENTAL
KRAFTWERK • Royal Palace Open Air - Brussels - August 14 2025
SUBJECT • Who Will Save Belgium?
BENE GESSERIT • Insanely Live
MOTOR!K • 4
CONFORMIST FEAT. H O R S E S • Heddiw
EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN • 40 Years Einsturzende Neubauten at Ancienne Belgique - Brussels - B (20+21.06.2022)
ANALFABETISM • Rotvälta
DEAR DEER / EMBERS • Split
JESU • When I Was Small
ALSO • Live in Celovec

 

Same genre: NEW WAVE
SUBATOMIC STRANGERS • Resuwrecked
DIRK DA DAVO • Running Up The Hilside (3 track single)
RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY • Strange Kind Of Paradise
A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS • Some Dreams
GHOSTING • All Your Dreams
THE VERY THINGS • Mr. Arc-Eye (Under A Cellophane Sky)
THE ULTIMATE DREAMERS • Paradoxical Sleep
THE CURE • Songs Of A Lost World
RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY • Driving Black
PLAY DEAD • The Collection

Music reviews

09
10
NERO/GRIS
Silenci
07
10
SUBATOMIC STRANGERS
Resuwrecked
01
10
BLOKKONTROLL
I-II-III
28
09
SUNSHINE BLIND
Scarred but Fearless
27
09
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Pleasure Is A Sin
26
09
PROMENADE CINEMA
Afterlife

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

NEWS

14
10
43 years of “Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn” by Die Krupps: A Blueprint for Industrial Resistance
09
10
Baby Turns Blue and 43 today!
03
10
BIMFEST XXIII – 2026 - Full Line-Up Announced!
28
09
De Delvers announces third full-lenght album 'Zwarte Siroop'
27
09
CURSE MACKEY Unveils ‘Imaginary Enemies’, A Darkwave Descent Into Grief & Revelation
25
09
Today, exactly 38 years ago The Klinik released 'Plague'!

Concert reviews

17
08
KRAFTWERK
Royal Palace Open Air - Brussels - August 14 2025
22
04
GAVIN FRIDAY
Live at 404 / De Vooruit - Ghent - 01/04.2025
28
11
BELGIAN ELECTROWAVE IS NOT DEAD 3
Belgian ElectroWave Is Not Dead 3

GET A COPY OF OUR MAGAZINE
SEND TO YOUR HOME

INTERVIEWS

27
09
CORPUS DELICTI
''All is quiet, the motion's cold. I face the wind as I'm taking the road.''
18
09
WHISPERS IN THE SHADOW
This album isn’t about bashing religion and faith. That would be a pretty cheap trick.
17
09
ZWAREMACHINE
We were able to secure the support slot for Front 242. Everything was looking positive until Bas’s cancer reemerged and there were complications.
27
08
BEAUTIFUL FREAKIN' WEIRDO
An Interview With UK Industrial Metal Act, Beautiful Freakin' Weirdo
29
07
EX-VOTO
“Decisions. In a modern time. Transmissions. From the inner mind.“

PHOTOS

21
09
KRUPPS
Kulttempel Oberhausen
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
12
09
ULTRA SUNN
De Casino St Niklaas
08
09
AUX ANIMAUX SUPPORT SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
07
09
SHE PAST AWAY
Kulttempel Oberhausen
17
08
NEW MODEL ARMY
Summerkultur Dinslaken
23
07
DUCTAPE
Amphi Festival Keulen

ADVERTISE
IN PEEK-A-BOO

VIDEO CLIPS

17
10
ZANIAS
Unseen (Official Video)
16
10
DOPE
Blood Money
15
10
SOFT CELL
Martin (The Hacker 2025 Remix)
14
10
DARK MINIMAL PROJECT
Schlafen !
13
10
PEAK FLOW
Don't Die In Your Sleep (Remix)
13
10
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE
Flying Turns (Live @ BIM 2009)
12
10
COCTEAU TWINS
Hazel