Quantum Jump - Barracuda '1977 [1998]

Tracks list

By the time Quantum Jump came to record their second album a full three years
had elapsed, during which time guitarist Mark Warner had jumped ship and leader
Rupert Hine had exorcised his passion for jazz-rock and funk. Warner was never
fully replaced, although violist and guitarist Geoffrey Richardson joined his
old ex-Caravan colleague John G. Perry as an auxiliary member, while Simon
Jeffes added some characteristically wry arrangements for his Penguin Cafe
String Ensemble (as they were credited on the sleeve). In every way, Barracuda
is a superior album to the bands debut. No longer is there the sense of a band
building songs around borrowed styles. And perhaps most striking of all is Hines
newly discovered sense of how the recording studio could be used as an
instrument in itself, thus launching himself on what would prove to be a highly
lucrative career as a producer. Barracuda is a sumptuously layered and
beautifully recorded album that -- a superabundance of clavichord apart -- gives
few clues as to its age. Everything comes together on the majestic Love Crossed
(Like Vines in Her Eyes). If Quantum Jump could have mustered a few more songs
that fused melody, surging momentum, and lushly detailed arrangements as well as
this, they might have become a force to be reckoned with. Songs like Blue
Mountain and Europe on a Dollar a Day (with vocal interjections by Elkie
Brooks), while less ambitious, also boast a breezy charm far removed from the
participants art rock grounding. Unfortunately, the album ends weakly with the
interminable talking blues of Neighbours, with Hine essaying a frankly comic
Deep South accent (Well, we dressed up so fahn) and getting all hot under the
collar about limbo ladies. Lyrics throughout err on the side of quirkiness, but
its worth remarking that Barracuda marked the first full collaboration between
Hine and Jeannette Obstoj, with whom he would continue to write for the next two
decades. The only non-Obstoj track, Starbright Park, is credited to Martin Hall,
who also contributed lyrics to Peter Gabriels first solo album.


Tracks:

1. Dont Look Now (4:13)
2. The Seance (3:45)
3. Barracuda (6:05)
4. Starbright Park (5:46)
5. Love Crossed (like vines in our eyes) (6:26)
6. Blue Mountain (3:46)
7. Europe ona Dollar a Day (3:44)
8. Neighbours (6:39)
9. Dont Look Now (mixing version) (3:29)
10. Blue Mountain (mixing version) (5:57)
11. Barracuda (mixing version) (3:38)
12. Take Me to the Void Again (incomplete work-in-progress mix) (3:42)
13. Summer in the City (abandoned lovin spoonful cover) (4:02)

Personnel:

Rupert Hine keyboards & other keyboards, vocals
Trevor Morais drums, percussion
John G. Perry bass guitar, vocal
Guest musicians
Geoffrey Richardson acoustic & electric guitar, viola, electric viola, Kentish
wheeze flute, Ilkley brain flute
Ray Cooper multifarious percussion
Paul Keogh acoustic & electric guitar
Simon Jeffes arrangements
The Penguin Cafe String Ensemble
The Tower Of Lowther Horn Section

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