Leslie Overdrive - "A Tad Askew" b/w "Oily"  (Hammond Beat cat. HB7-01 (Ltd to 250 copies)

I love that this, the first vinyl 7" release on Hammond Beat, opens with a plunky guitar and deep bass and not the organ with its Leslie screaming.  Obviously it doesn't take long for the Organ to jump in but again like the songs intro there is nothing predicable about the choices.  Rather than go for the throat and squeeze the organ the sound here is more flowing and even mellow.  Mellow but extremely groovy.  The band (guitar, bass (unless this is the organ peddles) and drums) does a little stretching out and grooving before the guitar breaks it all up with a very sharp, very Rock solo but one that is always aware of the beat.  This really winds things up and the organ has no choice but to try and match the intensity.  The band breaks back and states the theme and punctuates it with quick stop/starts just to let us know this AIN'T no Jam Band.  Nothing askew about it, this shit is dead on.  "Oily" is a version of the Juggy Murray Classic (uncredited on the label, for shame Hammond Beat!).  Unfortunately for Juggy Murray, "Oily" is a classic to a limited group of enthusiasts so this better be good... everyone is watching.  The band chooses to mellow it out a bit and this is certainly not a bad choice.  The groove is impossible to ruin so the slower tempo for the first half gives them more room to pick up the pace as the music progresses.  They even try some expressive organ playing and possibly a little improvising which adds an unexpected dynamic.  Despite this being a great version  the "A" side is just that much better.  A very good 7" and easily one that can be called a two-sider.  (I hope someone gets paid for side two, I believe the family is fighting after Mr. Murray's death).       

© PrimitiveSoundSystem, 2007

Leslie Overdrive ‘A Tad Askew' (Hammond Beat). first of four releases that you should find dotted about these pages in some shape or form. Haven't a clue how limited these dudes are though we can say their a tad pricey and come packaged in generic die cut sleeves, the label Hammond Beat are - if we've got our facts rights - an Oregon based imprint who've been chilling the tail pipes of the cats on the underground for a few years now with their Hammond obsessed releases, not a million miles in terms of sound and obsession as Spain's Butterfly imprint (who we've recently eyed are back on the game following a lengthy silence - we will chase the blighters in due course). Anyhow first release in this 7 inch series comes courtesy of Copenhagen quartet Leslie Overdrive who to date have been flipping the fringes of 60's loving beat dudes across the nations with their vibrant hot funky stew. Appealing to both 60's heads and old school beard stroking purists 'A tad askew' is a smoked slice of sumptuously slinky Hammond laced jazz funk, as retro as flock wallpaper and darned cool with it these freaky cats sound for all the world like they've just tripped out of ultra hip Carnaby Street boutique from the 60's brandishing a whole bags worth of tooting tunes with which to cut wickedly hip hugging toe tapping shapes out of. Flip the disc for the ostensibly more frisky 'Oily' - a corking cutie of far out kaleidoscopic jazz hazes blessed with a John Lurie like frazzled kookiness and nailed down by some rather tasty loose limbed riff struts and mind warping key arrangements that should all said and done appeal to lovers of those smoking dudes the Gene Drayton Unit.

© http://www.losingtoday.com/, 2008