Review: Television of Cruelty “Dead Sea Shanties”

Some artists defy classification and I would classify The Television of Cruelty (TVC) as one of those. “Dead Sea Shanties”, the third and latest offering from Ian Williams et al., is more like a journey to be experienced in full and through headphones rather than a collection of disjointed tunes comprising your average CD. Some would liken their work more to rock opera.

The lead off track, “Nowhere Central”, is simply fantastic – everything is optimized to pure melodic pop perfection from the songwriting to the vocal performance. It excited my ears, so I settled back into my chair for more of this wonderful carnival of pop rock. Unfortunately, despite some flickering moments of genius, nothing else really captured my attention like the excellent first track. I guess I got spoiled! Don’t get me wrong, though…if you are looking for something that sounds unique, with bold and witty lyrics, you need not look further than TVC.

“Dead Sea Shanties” is a musical smorgasbord – clearly rooted in 80s new wave, but with branches that venture into carnival pop, acoustic driven pop rock, prog rock, Celtic rock, and, naturally, electronica. It just leaves me asking one thing…where’s the gangsta rap, Ian?

Some will applaud these bold forays into so many different branches of musical genres, but others will not have the energy to climb such a tree. Ian is also notable for his ability to mold his voice to fit the piece. On “Nowhere Central” he sounds like Tommy Keene. On “Tommy Catt’s Bride” he sounds like Alice Cooper. On “Humber” he sounds like, well, nothing…it’s an instrumental. Actually, there are a considerable number of instrumentals (“musical narratives”) scattered throughout the disk, some reminding me of Enigma (check out “Sand Babies”).

To fully appreciate this CD, it would do you well to read through their web site. There you will find the curious explanations behind each of the two groups of songs, “The Dead Sea Shanties” (fictional) movie soundtrack (C side) and “The Nettlemen” (B side). You’ll also find, as you would expect of course, the “lyrics” to the instrumentals (musical narratives).

iPOD-worthy: 1, 7

Television of Cruelty on MySpace. Official Site.