Blending a string of new compositions with some songs which have been live staples for the best part of twenty years, the trio of Eric Fratzke, Dave King and Michael Lewis as Happy Apple believe that with their New York CD they have finally managed to capture the essence of their sound. That notion is impossible to dispute as they come barreling out of the gates with King’s skittering percussion and the klaxon calls of Lewis’s tenor saxophone, while Fratzke casts an ample net under their livewire act through deft arcs of his electric bass.
It’s an up-front and intimate sound, especially through the close-miking of King’s drums, though the band can also engage in slowed down or slinkier numbers, like on the spacious and sometimes dolorous or even elegiac ‘Black and Blue Magic’ or the sinuous ‘Turquoise Jewelry’, which is a gem of a centrepiece. On another standout in ‘Vanity Plate’ the turbid and taciturn bass of Fratzke adds to a winding groove, while King’s gambolling behind the drum set takes on a more strident and martial tone especially through the extended solo of the penultimate ‘White Belt Rock’.
Together as Happy Apple the Minneapolis veterans sound more taut and wiry than ever before, as they broach free jazz and harmolodic funk, trenchant blues and the churn of progressive rock through their typically brusque extemporisations, with the bass stirring up a few dubbier sediments and even a touch of glam on the closer ‘The Broad Side of the Silent Barn’, which channels the T. Rex chart-topper ‘Get It On’.
