1. Share It - 3:03
2. Lounging There Trying - 3:16
3. (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology on the Jaw - 0:43
4. Chaos at the Greasy Spoon - 0:31
5. The Yes/No Interlude - 7:01
6. Fitter Stoke Has a Bath - 7:33
7. Didn't Matter Anyway - 3:31
8. Underdub - 3:55
9. Mumps (20:22 total)
____a. Your Majesty is Like a Cream Donut (Quiet) - 1:59
____b. Lumps - 12:51
____c. Prenut - 3:55
____d. Your Majesty is Like a Cream Donut (Loud) - 1:37
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10. Halfway Between Heaven and Earth - 6:20
11. Oh, Len's Nature! - 2:00
12. Lything and Gracing - 3:58
Question: what happens when a record company pats you on the back, tells you you're big stuff, then leaves you in the cold, over £30,000 in debt? Answer: you squeeze out one amazing album on a shoestring budget and then implode. This is the background behind The Rotters' Club, the second and final album by Hatfield and the North. While the album is quite good in its own right, I can't help helplessly wanting more, even though I know it will never be.
Melancholy aside, let's dive in. The first side of the album (tracks 1-7) is actually more song-oriented than their previous self-titled album. Even though there are still no audible breaks, there are easier boundaries to draw. It all opens with “Share It,” an amusing (and apparently successful) attempt by the Hatfields to register on the Bristish censors' radar with a paean to communistic free love. It's a rather upbeat tune with a sunny keyboard solo that transitions into the jazz workout “Lounging There Trying,” one of two complex instrumentals provided by guitarist Phil Miller, the other being “Underdub,” which is equally tasty.
After that preamble, the band tighten their knickers and dive right in. “(Big) John Wayne” and “Chaos At the Greasy Spoon” are short little instrumental fanfares leading up to the jagged 13/8 jam “The Yes/No Interlude,” which features sax, angular lead guitar, and one of the happiest organ riffs around (covered by The Tangent in the “Canterbury Sequence” suite). The instrumental hijinks take a left turn into the tightly constructed “Fitter Stoke Has a Bath,” featuring thoughtful lyrics on the “glamour” of being in a rock band. The lyrics even take a turn toward quiet desperation: “Still, I'm happy just to sit around at home / With Pamela looking elegant and writing prose / If anyone's in need of me / I'm drowning in the bathtub.” Musically, the song mirrors Pamela's elegance (whomever she may be), with clean electric guitar, warm Fender Rhodes piano, and the Northettes providing understated “ooh”s and “aah”s. After the lyrics are done, a flute solo drives the song into an alternating 15/8 and 4/4 pattern with more creative soloing and lots of shape. Unfortunately, the instrumental adventures end in a minute and a half of weird, spooky sounds with anything but shape.
The first half wraps up with “Didn't Matter Anyway,” probably the most poignant of the songs. It might be about the end of the band, it might be about a lost love; the lyrics are open-ended and resigned. Jimmy Hastings guests on this track, and his flute playing shines as always.
Side two consists of the aforementioned complex jazz instrumental “Underdub” and the even more complex work “Mumps.” The Northettes have been mostly silent up until now, but they finally get their say all throughout the musical intensity of keyboardist Dave Stewart's magnum opus. The song starts lighter than a balloon, with soft textures backing the Northettes as they skillfully navigate the chord changes. Then drums kick in and the whole band takes off, but the gals still give them a run for their money, with abstract yet aggressive wordless singing throughout. The song has many different moods and even takes three minutes in the middle for a Richard Sinclair vocal about his affection for the alphabet (“I have minded my p's and q's / Tried not to damage any w's”). As a whole, it dances dizzyingly back and forth on the fine line between whimsy and technically accomplished musicianship. My only beef: there's a fadeout at the end of “Lumps.” For a band that excels at musical segue, this is a bizarre thing to find, especially in mid-track.
The bonus tracks are excellent and give a taste of what might have been, had the Hatfields been able to survive for another album. Thankfully, most of these guys got back together in a band called National Health, and someday I will find those albums...
Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 Pamelas looking elegant and writing prose
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