Who could have guessed that three unlikely avant-garde musicians would team up to bludgeon their "serious" pedigrees to the extent of "Effigies in Cork" ? Bob Drake (Thinking Plague, 5uu's, Hail etc.) and Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Cassiber, Pere Ubu) have teamed up with Lukas Simonis (AA Kismet, Dull Schicksall). Together they play a most adrenalised, poppy, rampant slew of twangy guitar originals. At times the legacies of Hank Marvin, Flat and Scruggs, The Ventures and Hendrix are put to shame on this disk, which has disjointed "noun & adjective" songs titles as perplexing as the music itself (Gruesome Pillow, Clairvoyant Pig and Bloated Janitor are but a few). The rhythm tracks were all recorded live (like they were in the old days) with only lead guitar work overdubbed, creating the powerful energy of a "live" performance. The outcome is a perfect equipoise for incomparable virtuosity by means of humor a'plenty, which will get people dancing at your party whilst you smile subversivly like the Cheshire Cat. The drums are "ruffing" all over the place, the bass proudly displays Midas-touched fingers, and the guitars sizzle with madness. Mad Dutchman Simonis came up with the song forms, Cutler got to play out his "The Shadows" fantasies, and Drake took the production techniques to the next level of Pop. Never mind that the cover art is a Deutsche Grammaphon spoof, that the sleeve notes appear to have been written by Egdar Allen Poe, and that the band's name sounds like a dishwashing liquid. This album rocks like the old days in a new way, and is a lot of fun to boot.