Ted Brinkley's music is gleefully nostalgic, and happily, dare-i-say militantly, devoid of any pretense of conceptual profundity. As Ted himself was heard to remark, after disembarking from the HMS Prince Hairy at Heather-On-The Moor, "I am the musical equivalent of a guy who builds little dioramas out of popsicle sticks". He is also suspected of saying: "In the chain restaurant that is culture, i am merely the sonic manifestation of a newly hired and soon-to-be-fired ever-pubescent busboy."

with: Lou Frankenhauer, a Choir including sonya hunter,ches smith, erik pearson, nancy clarke, john finkbeiner, alex candelaria, dan seamans, elaine difalco, miranda, jewlia eisenberg and beth custer....musicians, sleep cravers, bon-mot droppers and chronically distracted nightmare self-inflicters like sheldon brown, ches smith.... , marty wehner, mark bolin, jarrett rossini, ches smith.... , aarons bennett and novik, tom griesser, devin hoff, cornelius boots, darren johnston, john ingle, ben goldberg, ches smith....

REVIEW: (From Rottersclub.net - Italy)

A plan wrapped in the mystery: one phantom orchestra from college, disowned musicians, invented instruments, a cover that in reality is along pazzoide and dissacrante article, credits absolutely foolish (cites such Lou Frankenhauer for ordered you of sandwich and the coffees!). Obviously behind this masking job hides a bizzare artist and anti-comformist, accustomed to hide behind pseudonyms or extemporaneous groups. The artist in issue is the tasty Graham Connah, associate name often to the work of Frank Zappa, of which he has been a follower since the first hour. Admiral Ted Brinkley, therefore, is not other that same Connah while it is not given to us to know if it exists really the Verrugoso Junior Junior College (we doubt).

Therefore, us it does not remain that to entrust us to our orecchie in order to speak about this bizzarra publication. The 8 tracks of the disc, produced from the label Evander Music, offers a jazz at times to us pleasant and solar, like in the event of the first trace "Man Overboard, Man", at times ostico and experience them, like in some sections of "Prison-Mall-Casino". The vocals and use of instruments more typically rock (you see the guitar electrical worker in "Tune That Goes Nowhere" or "Wichita Toe Jam") lend the disc in sure moments the Canterburyana production, breaking in some points the predominance of the instruments to breath, whose presence is however preponderant in the 73 minutes of music. Therefore Miles alternate Davis with Frank Zappa and the Hatfield & The North and some time the three improvise jam session an entirety (see the Wichita Toe Jam). There is space also for a short and delicate file, Karaoke From Muskogee where finally Connah remembers himself to be tastier and delight us with a beautiful pianoforte.

The disc is closed with the longer cut, "Hear Theremin Everywhere", a synthesis of all the album that is
opened with a lot of schitarrata rock and continues in pure style jazz for good part of its 13 minuteren.

But at the bottom, as it says in cover notes by editor Nacho Hardman (anagram, indovinate a little who), draft of music of a jazz band from college and “can only this stupid kind be considered a small branch semidisowned on the tree of the history of the jazz”.

We think yes…
Giovanni July 2006