Search - Flim & Bb's :: Further Advent

What's so badddd about Flim and the BBs?

Will Flannery | Berkeley, CA | 06/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Apparently Flim organized the BB's in Cambridge at about the same time that the engineers in the area were developing digital sound, and they made some of the first digital recordings. They wanted to explore the possibilities of the medium, so they wrote tunes with great dynamic range, and they recorded them meticulously. The result, great sound.It was also helpful that Flim et.al. were great musicians. The band is unique, in that the tunes are melodic, highly arranged, dramatic, so that they sound more like a Broadway theatre pit band tunes as opposed to jams. The tonality of the band is determined mostly by the keyboards, and the keyboard sound, combined with the tunes themselves gives the band a sonority unlike any that I have heard. This music is very easy to listen to. But, at the same time, the melodies and rhythms are constantly changing, so this is not bland 'elevator' music.But, still, what is so badddd about Flim and the BBs? Answer: the horn player, Dick Oatts. Every time this guy blows a note the intensity of the music ratchets up about 100%. He plays lines with a fierce precision that propels the band. And when he is turned loose, it's "Katy bar the door", cause this guy will do some damage fast!After first hearing the CD "New Pants" I ended up buying all the Flim CDs on the bmp label. I wanted to review "New Pants" but amazon doesn't have it, perhaps it's out of print. This review applies to all the bmp releases."