Bob Drake

Skull Mailbox Bob Drake

With this CD Drake has lost it altogether. Strange little picked guitar pieces are the basis for grotesque songs; a seance goes horribly wrong, headless ghosts fly about, and everyone ends up dead, or locked in the cellar, or both. Interjections by massed choir and orchestra suggest a 19th Century comic opera, and influences are as diverse as the Beatles and Henry Cow. Drake's choir-boy vocals and the occasional off-beat heavy riff also cast a glance at ancient prog rockers Yes. If this sounds strange so far, the production sends the material right over the edge.