Tigermoth Records [Release date 29.08.25]

Chimpan A’s debut album was quite a revelation and one of the best low key releases of 2006. (We only got to hear of it some time later). This off-on project is essentially Mike Oldfield aficionado and Magenta mainman Rob Reed and one-time Jesus Christ Superstar frontman Steve Balsamo.

On that debut Magenta’s Christina Booth provided the female foil to Balsamo and it worked really well. That counterpoint is still there but three female singers share the duties, mainly the soulful Kirstie Roberts. Booth appears fleetingly but the album lifts when she’s present. ‘Anybody Out There?’ is just like old times, up to a point.

Aside from his earlier stage work, Balsamo has never seemed to realise his true musical potential. A solo album for Sony in 2002 was promising but he seemed a little out of sorts in a later band incarnation The Storys which again came to nothing.

With Reed at the helm Balsamo seems to find his true, er, voice and his engaging style is well displayed on a song like ‘Skeletons’ or ‘The Keeper’ complete with Prague Strings accompaniment. When not obsessing with Oldfield, Reed’s approach is increasingly wide-screen and the strings permeate much of this work.

The problem with this album is that it us “interrupted” by Tony Dallas (he was on the original album and the follow up “The Exemplary Machine”) and Richard Mylan’s spoken word, frankly detracting from excellent songs and instrumentation. I always find that spoken word affairs seldom justify repeat play and it was evidently not considered significant enough to include a lyric sheet. All this will lend itself to a theatrical/multimedia production of course if that ever comes about.

The Mylan segment is actually based on music composed for his Sorter theatre show in Swansea. There’s a fair bit of effing and blinding.

Musically the album is rooted in the seventies and eighties and that vibe is confirmed in the second disc of cover versions and remixes. Amongst the highlights ‘The Air That I Breathe’ and ‘Wichita Lineman’. But a revisit of one of that debut album’s sweet spots ‘A Secret Wish’ (based on Oldfield’s Tubular Bells motif) doesn’t eclipse the original. The covers all bear the hallmarks of the Chimpan A “touch” and rearranged accordingly.

Perhaps they’ll consider releasing a non-spoken word version of this venture in the future so we can fully enjoy the rich orchestration and groovy undertow. ****

Review by David Randall

Albums that time forgot (Chimpan A, 2006)

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