I'm exposed day after day as being far more ignorant than I might like to think. It's not so much that I think I have some sort of comprehensive knowledge, in any field, as that I conveniently forget that I don't. But when a whole musical "movement" (in quotes because it turns out to be a weakly tenable label) of which I'm entirely ignorant is brought to my attention, out of a branch in which I fancy myself a dilettante, it's a bit of a shock. In question here is the Rock In Opposition movement, founded in the late '70s by the seminal avant-garde rock band Henry Cow. Starting merely as a show they organized in London, RIO grew into an organization of bands that, well, supported each other in rocking in opposition! Opposition to the tepid rock music being proffered by the musical establishment (whether it be punk, psych, new-wave) and to the musical establishment itself. And that's about it, which is why it might not best be described as a movement and might explain why it had slipped under my radar until being force-fed to me.
What does all this have to do with this album??? This record is a retrospective of the 20 some odd years of this band's existence, so it should be regarded somewhat as a historical artifact. And historically La STPO has been associated with RIO. Furthermore, from what I've heard, researched, and (primarily) what the press pack tells me, RIO is somewhat of a foil for La STPO. RIO, while it should not be seen as a proper style of music, did tend to have a common thread of what we might today simply label as "art rock." A little clamorous, a little free-form, but generally operating within the established bounds of the art form. La STPO has its songs that conform to this commonality, but it just as readily smashes them as it flirts with them. Stylistically all over the map, this rocks in opposition to everything, including RIO. While a natural descendent of Zappa and Beefheart, this music blows even their spectrum out to an even looser and more inclusive definition of rock. To the extent that while it cannot be denied that it IS rock music, it holds very little in common beyond the very kernel of truth we attribute to the term. This is a music that makes a huge swath of subsequent bands and sounds seem trite and repetitive that at one time might have seemed innovative. Sorry Mr. Bungle.
1. Avant
2. Prelude
3. Techniques Explositionnistes
4. IceMesAmis
5. Les Barbares
6. Armenie
7. Bebalanbebant
8. Corsaires De Nerf
9. Equilibre
10. DadaMax Stellt Loplop Vor
More about: La STPO
