BJ Cole
Album: The New Hovering Dog
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.bjcole.co.uk

BJ Cole is, almost certainly, the UK's best known pedal steel guitar player. Not only that but, according to Sting [with whom I have seen BJ play], he is "the best pedal steel player in the world".

"The New Hovering Dog" was BJ's first solo album after he left the country rock band Cochise in 1972. Other members of Cochise included Mick Grabham [who went on to join Procol Harum ] and Rick Wills [who found fame with Foreigner, Bad Company and Roxy Music, as well as playing with Dave Gilmour].

This is the first release on CD of "New Hovering Dog", which has been remastered by Neil Wilkes and which now features two instrumental bonus tracks recorded in 1978.

"New Hovering Dog" was a marked departure from BJ's work with Cochise and was a bold step away from country rock into something much more adventurous and experimental.On this album, BJ took the pedal steel away from its traditional role as a "country" instrument and created an altogether new sound to which he added string arrangements [courtesy of the late Robert Kirby who was, of course, best known for his work with Nick Drake] and electronics [courtesy of early synthesizers, such as the VCS3], not forgetting his own somewhat obscure poetry/lyrics.

For this album, BJ assembled a celestial band of musicians including the marvellous Danny Thompson on bass, Francis Monkman [Curved Air] on harpsichord and Mike Giles [King Crimson]on drums, amongst others.

The album gets off to a stunning start with "The Royal Progession"which features BJ's eerie vocals over a sweeping string arrangement by Robert Kirby, before Francis Monkman's chiming harpsichord joins in, giving the track a baroque flavour which sounds like early Brian Eno meeting Handel at the Court of the Crimson King ! Amazing stuff!

BJ's shimmering pedal steel leads us into "Now You See Them,Now You Don't" which veers from vintage John Cale circa Paris 1919 into a country hoedown and then into Canterbury-style jazz rock and back again. Another breathtaking piece.

Thompson,Giles and Monkman feature on the dreamily psychedelic "Cold Mountain Mariner" which features droning synths, strings, harpsichord and a raga-like riff played on something which sounds like a sitar which gives an air of exotic mysticism. From this sublime bliss-out we come back down to earth with a bump for the next track- John Hartford's "Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie" which is the only "Country" track [and the only cover song] on the album. This infectious [in a good sense] hillbilly hoedown was actually released as a single in 1973.

It's back to the serious stuff for "You're Probably Lost", a cautionary tale about the music industry and the paranoia it can induce [for example "Have you read your contract through, Do you know if you ought to laugh"].

"Five Pieces For Steel Guitar and Percussion" is just what it says, five pieces for steel guitar and percussion [the latter provided by Tristram Fry, whose career highlights include playing on "A Day In The Life"by The Beatles, being a member of supergroup Sky [along with Francis Monkman] and playing at the Royal Wedding in 2011!

These five pieces feature BJ's swooning, dreamy pedal steel meditations which are a foretaste of his later work on albums such as "Transparent Music".

"I Know Now"is, on the face of it, a summery string-driven baroque-pop song with a keening pedal steel solo but the lyrics hint at something darker ["Cause to fight in the sun with the many and the one is the task we have to tend"].

The original album ends with "The East Winchley Tango", an experimental piece of electronic improvisation followed by modulated wind chimes.

The two bonus tracks are both fairly conventional instrumentals and which are markedly less experimental than the original album. "Pie In The Sky" and "Remington Ride" both feature superb keyboards from John "Rabbit" Bundrick of Free, Back Street Crawler and, subsequently, The Who.

It is astonishing to think that "New Hovering Dog" was recorded forty years ago. It was certainly ahead of its time and it still sounds bold and adventurous today. It is good to see this album reissued on CD at last, so that it can get the recognition that it undoubtedly deserves.

Peter Cowley