This release is actually a new edition of one of Mertens' first albums At Home - Not At Home. The original record only featured 2 tracks, while this record has 4 previously unreleased tracks (2, 3, 5, & 6) and a reprise of 'Not At Home'.
Review by Stewart Mason
The label of the A-side of this 12" EP reads "ideal play at 45 rpm." At the suggested speed, the nearly eight-minute "At Home" has an unsettling tension, as if it's playing slightly too fast, which is undoubtedly intentional. (At 33 rpm, some of the instruments sound slightly out of tune, but the reduced speed gives an almost elegiac, Steve Reich-like quality to the piece.) Aside from this somewhat manic quality, "At Home" is a typical piece of Wim Mertens' Belgian post-minimalism, with Peter Gordon's full-throated free jazz-influenced tenor sax jousting with Mertens' Bill Evans-like piano fills on top of the pulsating overdubbed violins and violas of Frans Vos and a fusiony rhythm section. The equally lengthy B-side, "Not at Home," is a more peculiar affair that doesn't sound much like Mertens' usual work at all. Although Mertens wrote the piece by himself, co-producer Gordon's influence is all over "Not at Home," in the rubbery electric bass that underpins the track, the rattling Latin percussion, the sonar-like synthesizer pings, and Mertens' wordless tape-manipulated vocals. "Not at Home" sounds like nothing so much as an outtake by Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra, and while the combination of Gordon and Mertens' styles is unexpected, the resulting tension makes this one of the more interesting and aggressive releases of Mertens' career. Like all of Wim Mertens' early recordings, At Home, Not at Home was originally released under the group name Soft Verdict.
At Home - Not At Home is Mertens' very first album. Like For Amusement Only, his radio show 'Funky Town' inspired him to compose and record these tracks. When comparing these albums, it's needless to say that the inspiration is completely different. The music played in 'Funky Town' was the new funk and disco music that was popular in the beginning of the 80's. Artists like Michael Jackson scored major hits then.
Although the music is completely different, you still hear the influences on this album. Mainly due to the percussion and the synthesiser, the tracks of this release could very well be played in a disco. But at the same time, they stay quite intimate and almost emotional, not something to share in a public place. In short: At Home - Not At Home. (by Jeroen Medaer)
credits
Gordon, Peter
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tenor saxophone, synthesizer
Knebush, Gyde
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harp
Mertens, Wim
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electric & acoustic piano, voice
Principle, Peter
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guitar
Vereertbrugghen, Karel
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bass
Vereertbrugghen, Pieter
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percussion
Vos, Frans
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viola
Martin, Gilles
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recorded & engineered
Mertens, Wim
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composed, arranged & produced
comments
- The releases before 1988 were released under the name of 'Soft Verdict'.
- Recorded in Brussels, 1981.
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