Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Nash The Slash-Children of the Night, LP,Canada,1980


(cd reissue cover)




Nash the Slash has been creating his unique concept of sound and vision for over twenty years. His first live presentation of music to film was a performance to the surreal silent film Un Chien Andalou at the Roxy Theatre in Toronto.
Nash the Slash was born of silent film. The name comes from a killer butler encountered by Laurel and Hardy in their first film, Do Detectives Think (1927). Nash the musician has gone on to create the music scores for such recent cult films as Roadkill and Highway 61, both directed by Bruce McDonald.
Between experiments with film and music, Nash the Slash became a familiar name to music fans through his association with the pop electronic group FM. Having co-written the hit songs Phasors on Stun and Just Like You, Nash established his credibility as a versatile artist. His talents have been recognized with a U-KNOW (later called CASBY) award for best instrumental artist as well as a Juno nomination for best new male vocalist. Nash's profile was raised on the international stage when he toured the world with the likes of Gary Numan and Iggy Pop. Other high-profile shows include opening for The Who at C.N.E. Stadium in Toronto to a crowd of 70,000 people and opening for The Tubes at a sold-out Maple Leaf Gardens.
Nash has recently recorded new music for the silent film classics The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), The Lost World (1925), and most recently his highly successful soundtrack to Nosferatu (1922), which he performed at the SKIF Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. Nash continues to do unique film scores for other silent film classics, such as the original Phantom of the Opera.
Nash has released numerous solo albums, the best known being Children of the Night with the hit single Dead Man's Curve. Other albums include Decomposing, the first record playable at any speed (reviewed in Playboy Magazine, 1982); and American Bandages, a collection of all-American classics such as We're an American Band, Who Do You Love, and Psychotic Reaction.
A review
That curious Canadian bloke did guest on Gary Numan's 1980 world tour and album, and his demented performances drew a label's attention and led to this album... Strange and arty at times, it is also packed with heavy cover versions of 'Smoke On The Water' ('Dopes On The Water'), '19th Nervous Breakdown' and 'Wolf' (a relecture of Prokofiev's 'Peter And The Wolf'). Not exempted from bad taste, the album stands for its original numbers, especially the delirious 'Swing Shift'... Nash The Slash is a one man band, fulfilling a group's duties with his violin, a mandolin and an army of effects devices. What the guy does with his violin is simply amazing, replicating the sound of guitars or drawing ambient sounds, his skills are stunning. Sadly, Nash isn't a songwriter and his music suffers on an album's length... With its controversial cover artwork (a bandaged man and a few young kids walking in the night... God, times were really different then), this album can be perceived today as the work of a novelty act, but Nash was first and foremost a really talented musician. Shame he didn't manage to build a cohesive career...
A stunning LP IMHO.The perfect introduction to the strange world of Nash!
get it here
(note that here you will find the cd reissue version containing extra tracks)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thanks for all the great posts you've been upping.

Noticed the comment on this about it being the first record playable at any speed. I think Boyd Rice/Non beat him on this one - see http://www.mutelibtech.com/non/biog.html

Cheers

glyphjockey said...

I saw him in 80 w/Numan - as vaudevillian as it was it was nevertheless astounding

Anonymous said...

He must be butt ugly.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for Nash the Slash. I had an old unlistanable vinyl...

Anonymous said...

Excellent post - am enjoying this immensely! I definitely need to upgrade my old vinyl.

Would love to see Decomposing 'cause Nash hasn't re-issued that one yet (AFAIK). And, Decomposing was the only Nash release that was playable at any speed.

And, any chance of some more HNAS, please ?

Anonymous said...

the rip I have is 'truncated', so thanks a lot & for this 1!

Anonymous said...

Did you ever find a copy of "Decomposing"? Lots of hunting is proving fruitless