from cerebral paisley 1.7 cerebral.paisley@ntlworld.com

Beck/Hession/Thomas
The Three Bs
Fencing Flatworm ff019

Today FFR present us with a live document of local trio Beck, Hession, Thomas - reeds, percussion and keyboard, respectively. This disc variously sounds like processed field recordings of a pigsty-cum-slaughterhouse, an ocean liner crashing into a harbour and al-Quaida crashing a jet into a piano shop. Quite noisy, then. Even the quieter moments still tread the perimeter of chaos. Perhaps it's the bassy, slightly distorted reed sound, but the moment reminded me of Sun Ra's Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy. Pat Thomas' keyboard plays the kind of part one would expect of a guitar - mad distorted runs along alien chord sequences, klattering and klanging with the rest of the band to create a ferocious noise. He's very flexible, making sounds ranging from subtle oscillations to ethnic sounding accompaniments. The trio definitely work well together and the drums really bind the keyboard and reeds together Having not seen them play live, I can only guess at how many of the indescribable sounds on this disc were produced. There are also some flashes of intelligent humour, a rare and valuable commodity in what is commonly perceived as 'beard stroking' music. I think that the nearest comparison I can make, with my limited musical knowledge, is with another power trio - Texas' heavy, sludgy guitar improv-vers Gravitar. The music certainly carries the same weight and power as theirs. It's certainly music without compromise. It's pretty good, too. PL.

Beck/Hession/Thomas
The Three Bs
Fencing Flatworm 019
45m51s

This gig took place at the Termite Festival back in November 2000. Mick Beck (bassoon) and Pat Thomas (keyboards) deputised for Derek Bailey, incapacitated with flu. THF Drenching, Dallas Boner and Sonic Pleasure were in the audience. After a dreary performance from Vibracathedral Orchestra
(the 'new Pink Floyd'), Beck/Hession/Thomas took the stage and tore the place up.

You can hear the itchy-scratchy energies that Drenching and Pleasure later developed (gigging and recording with Mick Beck). This is speedy, rocking, jagged and wild: a new evil 'athlete's' heat beneath the feet. Silly, mocking, excellent, essential - just like Bebop.

Beck/Hession/Thomas - the three b's CD-r

The latest release from Fencing Flatworm. Mick Beck, Paul Hession & Pat Thomas on reeds, percussion and keyboards respectively. Recorded live at The Termite Club Festival in 2000, and of excellent sound quality. I think the best way to describe this is all-out improv jazz and it's all fairly unrelenting. It never stands still for a second, like a multi-limbed epileptic one-man band. The squealing reeds on a collision course with the scattershot percussion, whilst the haphazard keyboards sound as though they are played by a mad organist, and that's just the first track. 45 minutes of pure mayhem and highly recommended.

from Empty #5, the newsletter of Burning Emptiness

Beck/Hession/Thomas ‘the three b’s’-FFR-CDR-new and nice color sleeve
/Free jazz recorded live, how classy on a CDR label! Nice record, fine label and FFR just changed their nice graphics and packaging for even nicer ones and lowered their prices. And these people have trouble in gathering enough money to run the label, blamey. So you lift off your lazy asses, you turn off your TV and you run and buy their records.